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Scott Strom of Waterville is a former Republican member of the Maine House of Representatives.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision last week to pull Gen. Mark Milley’s security detail and to advance an administrative review to reduce his rank post-retirement, confirms to me that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ vote against his confirmation was the exact right thing to do.
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump and Hegseth promised their detractors that they would suffer retribution. But during his Senate hearing, Hegseth promised in his opening remarks, “politics should play no part in military matters.”
It seems like the playbook for some of Trump’s more troubling nominees is to backtrack during the public hearing to secure votes, and then full steam ahead prioritizing revenge over progress. Thankfully, Collins saw through Hegseth’s cynical testimony and voted against his confirmation.
To be clear, I think that many of the president’s nominees are terrific. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already made progress in Panama and Mexico. Other nominees are similarly well qualified and deserve the Senate’s confirmation. But there are a few nominees who remain very problematic to me.
The conflicts between FBI nominee Kash Patel’s sworn testimony and his extensive written and spoken comments before his nomination conflict in a way as to undermine his credibility. There are numerous examples of Patel’s about-faces, so many in fact that his testimony seems a disappointing strategy to cloud his positions to gain confirmation, after which he will be free to do as he likes.
Here are a few examples:
In his book “American Gangsters,” Patel has named members of a so-called deep state, which amounts to a list of perceived enemies. In a subsequent interview with Steve Bannon, Patel said: “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” and “We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.”
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Patel said: “I have no interest, no desire and will not, if confirmed, go backwards.” “There will be no politicization of the FBI,” Patel said in an interaction with U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Connecticut. “There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI, should I be confirmed as the FBI director.”
In line with Trump’s own position, Patel has previously expressed sympathy for the Jan. 6 “hostages” — even promoting the work of the so-called J6 Choir — made up of imprisoned defendants, to raise money on their behalf.
But, in his Senate testimony, answering whether Trump was wrong to issue a blanket pardon for the rioters, Patel said: “I do not agree with commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” and “I have always advocated for imprisoning those that cause harm to our law enforcement and civilian communities.”
Patel stated in 2022 that he believed the FBI had entrapped Jan. 6 rioters, including goading them to commit crimes. “Jan. 6 [was] never an insurrection,” Patel wrote in a Truth Social post last year. “Cowards in uniform exposed, they broke the chain of command, and violated the law,” he posted.
In Senate testimony, Patel said: “If the best attacks on me are going to be false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations, the only thing this body is doing is defeating the credibility of the men and women at the FBI.” A December 2024 report by the Department of Justice inspector general stated that no undercover FBI agents were at the Jan. 6 riot.
Who runs the FBI is of utmost importance for Maine police and other first-responders who are dealing with drug trafficking. As you know, we have a huge opioid and fentanyl problem in Maine. As an EMT, I respond to those overdose calls nearly every day.
A few weeks ago, federal Judge John Woodcock sentenced Ryan Partridge for illegally possessing 125 grams of fentanyl and a 9 mm pistol. The FBI partnered with the Augusta Police Department and U.S. Border Patrol to investigate and arrest Partridge.
That is what we want the FBI to focus on: pursuing criminals who sell fentanyl to our neighbors, not retribution for political enemies.
