Kash Patel confirmed as FBI director despite two GOP senators voting against him
Of all President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominations, Kash Patel for FBI director was among the most controversial, and given the GOP's slim 53-47 majority in the Senate, there were legitimate concerns that enough Republican senators would join with Democrats to vote against the nominee and sink his confirmation.
As it turned out, only two GOP senators voted "No" for Patel on Thursday, and Trump's pick to head the FBI for the next 10 years was confirmed with a 51-49 vote, according to the Associated Press.
Perhaps more surprising than those two Republican defections, however, was the "Yes" vote for Patel from one particular Republican senator who's previously clashed with the president and was widely expected to oppose the controversial nominee -- former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Two Republicans voted "No" on Patel
From the moment that President Trump announced Kash Patel as his choice to lead the FBI during the transition period last year, all Senate Democrats and the "independent" senators who routinely caucus with them stood united in opposition to his nomination.
That opposition was largely based on loud complaints that Patel was too partisan for the GOP and too much of a loyalist to Trump who would essentially serve as his hatchet man and utilize the Bureau to enact vengeance against the president's political enemies among Democrats and the "Deep State" of the federal bureaucracy.
Some Democrats even went so far as to accuse Patel of somehow masterminding the firing of several senior FBI executives while he was still engaged in the confirmation process, among various other allegations and smears, and Democrats used every parliamentary trick and procedural rule they could think of to delay and block his confirmation.
Those concerted efforts against Patel were ultimately for naught, though, as his nomination was finally brought to the Senate floor for a vote on Thursday and he was confirmed with a 51-49 vote.
Among those 49 "No" votes, per the AP, were all 45 Democratic senators, the two "independents" who are nearly always aligned with them, and two Republican senators who strongly dislike the president, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
McConnell voted "Yes" on Patel
Surprisingly enough, Sen. McConnell voted "Yes" on Patel's nomination to lead the FBI, which was highly unexpected given his long-running feud against President Trump and prior "No" votes against some of his other controversial nominees, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
McConnell, along with Sens. Collins and Murkowski, had voted against the confirmation of Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary, setting up a 50-50 tie that had to be broken in favor of Trump's nominee by Vice President JD Vance.
The former Senate Republican Leader also twice crossed the aisle by himself to side with Democrats against Trump's nominees to be the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Interestingly, McConnell had delivered a speech on Thursday ahead of the Patel confirmation vote to announce that he would not seek re-election to an eighth term in 2026, and The New York Times reported that based on the content of that retirement speech, it had been widely anticipated that he would vote against the nominee to lead the FBI.
Patel responds to successful confirmation vote
As for Patel, he said in an X post that he was "honored" to be confirmed as the FBI director and wrote, "The American people deserve an FBI that is transparent, accountable, and committed to justice. The politicization of our justice system has eroded public trust -- but that ends today."
"My mission as Director is clear: let good cops be cops -- and rebuild trust in the FBI. Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Bureau and our partners, we will rebuild an FBI the American people can be proud of," he added. "And to those who seek to harm Americans -- consider this your warning. We will hunt you down in every corner of this planet. Mission First. America Always. Let’s get to work."