Confirmation hearing for Kash Patel as FBI Director set for Jan 30

Patel is the highest-ranking Indian-American nominated by President Donald Trump in his administration. If confirmed, he would be the first-ever Indian American to lead the most powerful American investigation agency

Washington: Kash Patel will appear before a US Senate committee on January 30 for a confirmation hearing to be the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Patel, 44, is the highest-ranking Indian-American nominated by President Donald Trump in his administration. If confirmed, he would be the first-ever Indian American to lead the most powerful American investigation agency.

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“The Nomination of Kashyap Pramod Patel to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation” has been scheduled for January 30, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced on Thursday.

Patel would replace Christopher Wray. He is considered to be a loyal supporter of Trump. “I love the American dream. My story’s pretty simple, it’s unique, and some of you share in it,” Patel, the former federal prosecutor, said during an inauguration event for Trump early this week.

“My parents were born and raised in East Africa. My father in the 1970s fled a genocidal dictatorship in Uganda, where he saw 300,000 of his countrymen murdered, where he saw what lawlessness would do if it was allowed to break through the system of constitutional justice,” he said.

“He fled like so many others. He married my mother. They moved here. They waited in line. They stood in line because the American dream was worth standing in line for. That dream is woven into the fabric of this nation. And our immigration policy is the greatest in the world,” Patel said.

But dreams and hopes aren’t enough and Americans have to get to work, Patel said. “We have got to accept the realities that too many of you know from your communities. President Trump launched in his first term priorities of national security, law enforcement, economy, and global diplomacy. But now, we have to retread some of that,” he said. “My name is Kash Patel, and I ain’t going anywhere,” Patel said.