Congress
GOP senators signal they’re open to Patel leading FBI
Few GOP senators are raising early opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel.
Even Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — who was outspoken against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) potentially becoming attorney general — didn’t immediately dismiss Patel on Monday, saying she’d need time to review his profile.
“I don’t know Kash Patel,” Collins said. “I had heard his name, but I don’t know his background, and I’m going to have to do a lot of work before reaching a decision on him. In general, I’ve found it’s important to review the background check, the committee work and the public hearing.”
Trump announced his selection of Patel to lead the FBI over the weekend. Christopher Wray, the current leader of the bureau who was originally appointed by Trump in 2017, has been confirmed to a term through 2027. That means Patel, if confirmed, would usurp Wray from the seat years ahead of schedule.
Trump can only afford to lose three Republican votes on any nominee if Democrats are unified in opposition.
Patel is a fierce and vocal supporter of Trump’s and served in the president-elect’s first administration as a staffer for the National Security Council. He was also a senior staffer for former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who repeatedly attempted to discredit the Russia investigation from his perch atop the House Intelligence Committee.
Patel has promised to purge the FBI of people he sees as unloyal to Trump and has indicated he would seek a near-total revamp of the agency. In Trump’s statement announcing his intent to nominate Patel, he commended the soon-to-be nominee for playing “a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.”
Trump has personally railed against the FBI, particularly after agents conducted a search for classified documents at his residence at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
A number of GOP senators on Monday evening said they thought Patel could be confirmed. Soon-to-be Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said “the president ought to have who he wants serving in his administration.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he plans on meeting with Patel this week and is “in a presumptive positive position” over the nomination “right now.”
“I do think he will be able to get confirmed, absolutely,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has expressed reservations about Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to be Defense secretary.
Though there aren’t immediate signs of mass opposition to Patel’s nomination, there are some concerns about cutting Wray’s term short. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) noted Trump picked Wray himself for a 10-year term in 2017 and that the senator had no “complaints” or “objections” with the current leadership team.
“We provide advice and consent,” Rounds said on ABC’s “This Week.” “That can be sometimes advice, sometimes it is consent.”
Collins also noted she thinks Wray has done “a good job” as FBI director. Still, many Republicans disagree with that assessment, and some like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) insist “Kash Patel would be perfect to clean house over there.”
It is clear, however, that Trump cannot count on Democratic support to get Patel’s nomination across the finish line.
“He has said things about weaponization of law enforcement and reform in the FBI, which leads some to believe — I hope it’s not true — that he will take the same type of revenge politically that he’s accusing this administration of,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday.
The House Oversight Committee requested that Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer who once represented Jeffery Epstein, testify as part of its investigation into the federal government’s handling of the Epstein files.
The interview is tentatively slated for 10 a.m. on July 9, with a video and transcript of the testimony being released “as expeditiously as practical,” Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote in a letter to Dershowitz on Friday.
“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, documents obtained by the Committee, and your former role as Mr. Epstein’s attorney, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” Comer wrote.
Comer told reporters on Wednesday that he wanted to hear from Dershowitz, who helped Epstein secure a controversial plea deal in his 2008 sex abuse case.
“I’m looking forward to testifying,” Dershowitz wrote in a text message to Blue Light News on Friday, adding that he is “trying to adjust my schedule” for July 9.
Sen. John Cornyn isn’t a card-carrying member of the Senate GOP’s growing YOLO caucus. But with less than seven months left in office after losing his primary, the Texas Republican appears to be feeling newly free to speak his mind.
The latest clap-back came Thursday night and the early hours of Friday morning, when Cornyn called a conservative influencer a “grifter” and told Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on social media to stop publicly blaming fellow Republicans — including Senate Majority Leader John Thune — for the fact that the GOP elections bill doesn’t have support to pass inside the party.
“You don’t have the votes” for the SAVE America Act, Cornyn posted on X. “@LeaderJohnThune can’t change that. It is math.”
He was directing his comments at Lee, who had just penned a post telling Thune, “let’s do this!”
Cornyn continued, “Try focusing on Democrats instead of Republicans. Republican on Republican attacks are hurting our chances to win the majority in November.”
Lee responded to ask, “on what planet is this an attack on Republicans?” and appeared to suggest a staffer was tweeting on Cornyn’s behalf: “Once my friend John Cornyn realizes that you’re saying this in his name—whoever you are—I don’t think he’ll be happy with you.”
Cornyn, however, is known for posting himself on his social media accounts in a chamber where many Senate accounts are run solely by staff. And he’s been making it clear all week that he will push back on Trump and his party when he thinks it’s needed.
In multiple conversations with reporters in the Capitol, Cornyn said that Republicans need to “stop the circular firing squad.” And he added that he won’t intentionally be “a thorn in [Trump’s] side,” but he’s also “not going to go out of my way to try to appease him.”
“I want him to succeed, I want the Republican Party to succeed, I want the country to succeed,” Cornyn said this week. “But on a case-by-case basis, when I think there’s been overreach or just a bad idea, I’m not going to hesitate to weigh in.”
The four-term senator’s comments come after he lost his primary last month to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Trump endorsed in the final days of the runoff.
Cornyn said in an interview with The New York Times that he was not a “wounded bear” but that he believed Trump’s insistence on “slavish adherence” was going to backfire for Republicans in the midterms and result in “the most miserable two years of his life” if Democrats flip the House or Senate.
“I think it is going to be a pretty bumpy ride for the next seven months,” Cornyn said.
Chuck Schumer wants Congress to pass AI legislation. But he’s casting doubt on it happening this year.
“In this Congress, it’s hard,” the Senate minority leader said in an interview Thursday.
Schumer’s reality check isn’t a complete door-slam. But it underscores the steep climb lawmakers face to bridge a slew of intra-party and inter-chamber divides about what Washington’s approach should be toward the emerging opportunities and risks from the rapidly developing technology.
The problems are multi-pronged.
The White House, whose posture toward AI has shifted dramatically in recent weeks, is angling to enact legislation that would preempt state laws in favor of a national standard. Most recently, administration officials have been exploring a plan to attach preemption legislation to bills designed to shore up kids’ safety online. But there are issues — House Republicans aren’t in love with the Senate GOP’s kid safety bills and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has warned that many senators have concerns “about not trampling states’ rights in the process.”
Democrats aren’t unified on what to do next, with the public broadly skeptical about AI.
Some House and Senate Democrats are leery of state preemption and want to wait until next year to tackle AI, when they might be in power. Opposition from key Democrats is a major factor derailing an attempt by Reps. Lori Trahan and Jay Obernolte to strike a deal on legislation that would set nationwide safety and transparency rules while restricting state action. And Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed a moratorium on AI data centers pending stricter government oversight.
Schumer is striking a balanced tone on how to proceed, arguing that there are “tremendous benefits” from AI but that “we also have to have guardrails.”
“We should get something done on AI, and it’s … got to be balanced — keep innovation strong, but have guardrails to prevent the dangers,” he said. “That’s a hard needle to thread, but I would very much like to see that get done the sooner the better.”
What else we’re watching:
— FISA LAPSE, CLAYTON NOMINATION: Thune is vowing to move “fairly quickly” to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, with the FISA Section 702 spy authority set to lapse at midnight thanks to a stalemate between Democrats and the White House over the position.
— GOP ADVANCES BIG DEFENSE BOOST — Republicans have taken the first steps toward granting President Donald Trump’s request for the largest budget ever for the Pentagon. Senate Armed Services members on Thursday approved a draft of their annual defense authorization bill outlining priorities for $1.14 trillion in defense spending next year. The House Appropriations defense subcommittee advanced $1.1 trillion in fiscal 2027 funding for the Defense Department in a closed-door markup.
Calen Razor and Connor O’Brien contributed reporting.
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