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WATCH: Amy Klobuchar Shrieks At Kash Patel, Gets Smacked Down By His Fiery Retort: ‘Grotesquely Unfair’

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The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing for Kash Patel’s nomination as FBI Director took a heated turn when Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) launched into a full-scale tirade against him—only to be shut down by Patel’s powerful response.

During Thursday’s confirmation hearing, Patel faced aggressive questioning from Klobuchar, who appeared more interested in grandstanding than actually getting answers. The Minnesota Democrat, known for her combative style, attempted to paint Patel as a dangerous radical, throwing out past quotes in an effort to undermine his credibility.

Klobuchar started her aggressive line of questioning, bringing up Patel’s past criticisms of the FBI. “This is an agency with agents who have taken down terrorists, taken down bank robbers, taken down crime. And you wrote that the FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken,” she pressed.

Rather than allowing Patel to respond fully, Klobuchar interrupted multiple times, growing increasingly agitated. She then attempted to argue that under Director Christopher Wray, the FBI had actually improved its standing.

“Do you know that under Chris Wray’s leadership… the applications to the FBI have, in fact, tripled?” she asked, implying that Patel’s critiques were baseless. However, Patel was ready with the hard truth.

“The American public’s trust in it is at 40 percent. That’s an all-time low,” he shot back, a statistic that speaks volumes about the agency’s credibility under its recent leadership.

The exchange escalated further when Klobuchar pressed Patel on past remarks about the FBI’s headquarters. “Did you say that the FBI headquarters should be shut down and reopened as a museum of the Deep State?” she demanded.

As Klobuchar’s voice rose, Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley was forced to intervene, gaveling her down as she tried to speak over both Patel and the committee process.

Patel said, directly addressing the smear tactics, “Simply this, 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.”

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Patel, an attorney and former federal prosecutor, was nominated by President Donald Trump to become the Director of the FBI. Born in Garden City, New York, Patel completed his Bachelor of Arts in History and Criminal Justice at the University of Richmond.

He started as a public defender in Florida, later moving to the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served as a trial attorney in the National Security Division. In 2017, he took on the role of senior counsel on counterterrorism for the House Select Committee on Intelligence under Chairman Devin Nunes.

He was pivotal in the Republican-led investigations into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and played a central role in creating the Nunes memo, which accused the FBI of misconduct in its surveillance operations.

Throughout the Trump administration, Patel ascended to several high-ranking positions, including Senior Director of the Counterterrorism Directorate at the National Security Council and Chief of Staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.

In November, he was put forward by President Trump to replace Christopher A. Wray as the head of the FBI. If confirmed, he would make history as both the youngest and the first Indian American FBI Director.

His confirmation remains pending in the Senate, where discussions are ongoing about his credentials and the implications for the FBI’s autonomy.