Senate Democrat says FBI nominee Kash Patel is working on purge of agency officials before being confirmed

(CNN) — The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is alleging that Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, is “personally directing the ongoing purge” of bureau employees.

In a letter to the Justice Department’s inspector general Tuesday, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said that he had received “highly credible information from multiple sources” that Patel gave directives to White House and Justice Department officials about a series recent of firings at the FBI even though he hasn’t yet been confirmed to lead the bureau.

If the allegations are true, Durbin said, Patel may have perjured himself at his confirmation hearing by claiming he was unaware of plans to terminate FBI employees.

“It is unacceptable for a nominee with no current role in government, much less at the FBI, to personally direct unjustified and potentially illegal adverse employment actions against senior career FBI leadership and other dedicated, nonpartisan law enforcement officers,” Durbin wrote, asking the inspector general to investigate the claims.

Durbin’s letter adds to a series of allegations by Democratic lawmakers that Patel will improperly carry out Trump’s orders and is unqualified for the post.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Durbin is the ranking member, is set to vote on Patel’s nomination Thursday morning.

A spokesperson for Patel said the media, in reporting on the letter, was relying on “anonymous sources and second-hand gossip to push a false narrative.”

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on X that “these latest allegations r nothing more than hearsay & dont hold a candle to Patel’s character+ credibility which over half a million law enforcement officers hv vouched for.”

In his letter Tuesday, Durbin said that he believed that Patel was receiving information from inside the FBI and instructing his advisory team, acting deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller to enact his directives at the FBI.

Durbin’s allegations focus on meetings in late January about several high-level, career FBI employees who were told they had to resign or would be fired. Patel’s advisory team had a “written list” of those names, the senator said.

Contemporaneous notes from the one of the meetings read: “KP wants movement at FBI, reciprocal actions for DOJ,” Durbin said citing unnamed sources. Bove also told attendees that “he received multiple calls from Stephen Miller,” where Miller was “pressuring him because Mr. Patel wanted the FBI to remove targeted employees,” the letter says.

The DOJ inspector general’s office declined to comment.

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