President Donald Trump’s FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, said Thursday during his confirmation hearing he did not support the president’s decision to grant clemency to the dozens of Jan. 6 defendants who attacked police officers.

Kash Patel exhibited unflinching fealty during Donald Trump’s four years out of office, standing by him during the grim days after the F.B.I. search of the president’s Florida estate in 2022.

President Donald Trump’s new administration is looking ahead to key Senate hearings this week for three of his most controversial nominees.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, is to encounter deeply skeptical questioning from Democratic senators about his loyalty to the president and stated desire to overhaul the bureau as he faces a high-stakes hearing that will help determine his path toward confirmation.

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.

The nominee for F.B.I. director made his nonprofit into a publicity machine, selling his children’s book, his clothing brand and his image as Donald Trump’s ultimate loyalist.

An Associated Press review of more than 100 podcasts that Kash Patel hosted or on which he was interviewed reveals how Patel has habitually denigrated the investigations into Trump.

Patel, a Trump loyalist who has railed against the FBI over its investigations into the president and claimed that Jan. 6 rioters were mistreated by the Justice Department, was picked in November to replace Christopher Wray.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.

As Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, appears Thursday for his Senate confirmation hearing, some of the rhetoric he has espoused for years to defend

Kash Patel, President Trump's pick to run the FBI, answers questions Thursday in a public hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.