Sen. Adam Schiff says the New Orleans attack shows Kash Patel shouldn’t lead the FBI

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday that the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans shows Kash Patel “should not be confirmed” as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI.

Schiff told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that the terrorist attack “underscores” why it’s important to have an FBI director “that has experience, has judgment, that has character, that will prioritize defending the country against the violence we saw in New Orleans or the violence we saw on Jan. 6.”

Schiff added that the Senate should not confirm “someone whose top priority is political vendettas, who believes in Deep State conspiracy thinking, not someone who is as unqualified as Kash Patel.”

A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Schiff’s remarks.

Patel, a longtime Trump loyalist, has come under fire previously for promoting the falsehood that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Trump. He has also previously spread baseless conspiracy theories that civil servants in the “deep state” are working to overthrow Trump.

After Trump said in December he would nominate Patel to lead the FBI, comments Patel made in 2023 to another Trump ally resurfaced. In a podcast taping with Steve Bannon, Patel vowed that Trump would “come after” journalists, lawyers and judges he believes haven’t treated Trump fairly.

“We will follow the facts and the law and go to courts of law and correct these justices and lawyers who have been prosecuting these cases based on politics,” Patel said.

“We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media — yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” he added.

In an interview with “Meet the Press” on Friday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he believed Patel would prioritize the mission of the FBI and rebuilding trust in the institution if he’s confirmed.

“The FBI is an agency that I think is in need of reform and needs a good makeover, so to speak. … I think that confidence and trust [in the FBI] is largely eroded, and there’s an opportunity to fix that,” Thune told moderator Kristen Welker.

“I sat down and met with him. I think he understands that’s the mission, and if he’s successful through the nomination process, I hope that he will take very seriously that responsibility and focus on what he can do to make the FBI operate in a way that is protecting the American people and also being accountable,” Thune added.

Asked whether he intends to back Patel when the full Senate votes on his confirmation, Thune declined to share his position.

“I haven’t been advertising or disclosing my positions on individual nominees at this point just yet, but I — my job is to make sure they get a fair process,” he said.