GOP’s Blackburn: Schiff, Other Dems Fear Kash Patel As FBI Director
Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn stated in a Fox News interview that Democrats, including California Sen. Adam Schiff, "fear" Kash Patel as a potential FBI leader because of his knowledge regarding their involvement in advancing the "Russian collusion" narrative during Donald Trump’s presidency.
“I think, too, they are very fearful of Kash Patel because Kash Patel knows what Adam Schiff and some of the others did with Russia collusion, and they know that he — knows the dirt on them, if you will, and I think they’re fearful of what he’s going to do and what he’s going to reveal and what he’s going to make known to the American people,” Blackburn told guest host Charlie Hurt on “Fox & Friends” Sunday.
Hurt responded, “And they recognize that one thing Kash Patel is very devoted to is bringing transparency to what’s going on in Washington,” which drew agreement from Blackburn.
“So to what degree with RFK Jr., like Tulsi Gabbard, do you think Democrats might hold it against them?” Hurt inquired. “Because I think you’re right. I think that one of the things that really, really enraging them is that these are former Democrats, and they feel like they have to — I think it just drives them crazy and makes them so mad that these are Democrats who found a way to work on common sense solutions with President Trump.”
Blackburn responded: “You’re exactly right about that. It does make them angry, and so they’re wanting to punish them and the way they can punish them is to withhold their vote or to slow down their nomination. RFK Jr. is going to do a great job at HHS, and I tell you one thing.
“He is going to help us find these 300,000 children. I’ve been trying to find these kids since it was 75,000, and the Biden Administration has never responded to where these children are. RFK is going to get in there. He’s going to rework CMS with Dr. [Mehmet] Oz. He is going to work with [Dr.] Marty Makary to straighten out the FDA. He’s going to work with Dr. [Jay] Bhattacharya at NIH,” Blackburn added.
“You’re going to see transparency. People want to know what really happened with COVID. I think we’re going to be able to find out what happened,” she stated.
“Notably, Bhattacharya was a critic of the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and was the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, Murthy v. Missouri, where he argued that he was ‘unfairly censored’ on social media by the government for his views on the issue,” the Consortium of Social Science Associations reported regarding the Stanford University professor of health policy’s nomination by Trump.
“While the case gained national attention, it was ultimately unsuccessful in a 6-3 ruling,” the organization further noted.
Of his NIH nominee, Trump remarked, “Dr. Bhattacharya will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to direct the Nation’s Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives.”
A former federal prosecutor, Patel was appointed as senior counsel on counterterrorism for the House Select Committee on Intelligence in 2017. He later served as senior director of the Counterterrorism Directorate at the U.S. National Security Council in 2019.
Previously, he worked as a senior aide to then-Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) while Nunes chaired the House Intelligence Committee. In that position, Patel was instrumental in assisting Republicans in their investigations into Trump and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Patel also played a significant role in drafting the 2018 Nunes memo, which alleged FBI misconduct in obtaining a surveillance warrant on a Trump 2016 campaign aide.