FBI Director nominee Kash Patel was involved in a tense exchange with Dem. Sen. Dick Durbin over President Trump's pardon of January 6 rioters earlier this year.

The Anti-Defamation League refers to Peters as a “conspiracy theorist, radio show host, Christian nationalist and prolific antisemite.”

A Democrat has requested information from government agencies regarding claims that Kash Patel violated protocol during an attempted hostage rescue mission.

Ill., questioned Kash Patel about his support of President Trump's pardon of Jan. 6 rioters convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers, including those who have since committed other crimes. Patel would not say if he believed the pardons made America safer.

During the Senate Confirmation Hearing, Trump FBI Director nominee Kash Patel was immediately caught in a lie by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. Kash claimed he had no idea who far-right conspiracy theorist, radio show host, Christian nationalist, and prolific antisemite Stew Peters is, after repeatedly being on his program.

During Patel's confirmation hearing, Durbin pressed Patel on Trump's blanket pardons, including for individuals who admitted to violence against law enforcement and those who subsequently committed crimes.

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump ’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, is facing a contentious confirmation hearing Thursday, with Democrats focused on his plans to overhaul the bureau and whether he'll seek legal retribution against Trump's political opponents.

Durbin wrote, “I have recently received highly credible information revealing that while serving in the first Trump Administration’s National Security Council, Kash Patel broke protocol regarding hostage rescues by publicly commenting without authorization on the then in-progress retrieval of two Americans held captive by Iranian-backed militants in Yemen in October 2020.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, insisted to deeply skeptical Democrats on Thursday that he did not have an “enemies list” and that the bureau under his leadership would not seek retribution against the president’s adversaries or launch investigations for political purposes.

Patel is a controversial nominee, having long raged against the so-called Deep State and prioritized his loyalty to Trump.

During Jan. 15 confirmation hearings for Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee for attorney general who oversees the FBI as part of the Justice Department, Democratic senators pressed Bondi on whether Patel was a good choice to run the agency, pointing to Patel's previous comments calling for downsizing the intelligence community.