Official U.S. Senate voting records or announcements

Bolton Urges Senate to Reject Trump's FBI Director Nominee Kash Patel, Citing Beria Comparison

Dec 1, 2024, 01:49 PM

John Bolton, former National Security Advisor, has publicly criticized President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Kash Patel as the new FBI Director. In interviews with NBC News and CBS, Bolton compared Patel to Lavrenty Beria, a notorious chief of Joseph Stalin's secret police, the NKVD. Bolton urged the Senate to reject Patel's nomination unanimously, arguing that the FBI should not resemble the Soviet-era secret police. This comparison and call for rejection have sparked a debate on the suitability of Patel for the role, with some seeing Bolton's opposition as a sign of Patel's appropriateness for the position.