Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday he is confident that Kash Patel “will be” confirmed to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“People I know and who I trust speak well of him and I’m looking forward to meeting with him,” Cornyn (R-Texas) told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Cornyn, who previously served as the chamber’s Republican whip and last month lost a bid to become majority leader, said Patel had “vast experience” and had been highly recommended by “people I have great respect for.”
Cornyn said he spoke Wednesday with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, who he said “spoke highly of” Patel. He said he had not yet met with Patel but would schedule a meeting soon.
The comments come as some of Trump’s more controversial Cabinet nominees swarm the Hill in an attempt to quell concerns from senators — even within their own party. Patel, a former Defense Department official in Trump’s first administration, said before he was nominated he would “shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day 1 and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state.”
