Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, has broadly locked down support from Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee, paving the way for his confirmation to the role after the current director announced his intention to resign when the president-elect takes office in January.
The idea of securing support from the judiciary committee, according to two people familiar with the matter, is that if the committee reports out his nomination perhaps unanimously, it would make it politically harder for any skeptical Republicans to oppose him later.
Trump’s aides working on the controversial nominations all see the same handful of senators as potential hurdles, the people said: Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins – longtime senators with whom Trump has little leverage and are difficult to control.
In Patel’s case, his team would make the argument that McConnell, as an institutionalist, should trust the judiciary committee if it reports out the nomination, the people said. And if Patel gets McConnell’s backing, it would reduce the number of possible no votes below the four-vote threshold.
