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President Donald Trump's FBI manager nominee Kash Patel sparred with Democrats connected the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday successful his lengthy confirmation hearing, wherever helium faced disconnected with lawmakers connected issues ranging from Trump's pardoning of Jan. 6 rioters, his relation successful elevating a opus released by the Jan. 6 inmate choir, and his erstwhile telephone to unopen down the FBI office successful Washington, D.C.
He besides answered questions astir his views connected QAnon and connected his book, "Government Gangsters."
Here were the 4 biggest clashes of the day.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., blasted Patel for refusing to stock his expansive assemblage grounds from the probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents aft leaving the White House.
The charges against Trump were dropped successful Florida and New York aft helium won the statesmanlike election, successful keeping with a long-standing DOJ argumentation against prosecuting a sitting president.
Blumenthal told Patel connected Thursday that refusing to stock his remarks with the sheet gave "the appearance" that helium is being little than transparent.
"The quality present is that you person thing to hide," Blumenthal told him. "I taxable to my colleagues connected the committee, we request to cognize what the expansive assemblage grounds is ... and you person nary objection to our seeking it, but you won't archer us."
"Even successful a classified, confidential setting, I deliberation that presumption is disqualifying," helium said, earlier adding, "What are you hiding?" "Why won't you archer us?"
Patel declined to springiness a satisfactory answer.
"The quality present is that you person thing to hide," Blumenthal said.
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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., besides traded barbs with Patel connected Thursday implicit the president’s sweeping pardon and condemnation commutations to the much than 1,500 defendants charged successful the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
Durbin, the ranking Democrat connected the panel, asked whether Patel believed the U.S. is "safer" aft the wide pardons were granted, to which Patel attempted to equivocate the enactment to pardons issued by erstwhile President Joe Biden.
He told Durbin that helium has "not looked astatine each 1,600 idiosyncratic cases" earlier adding, "I besides judge America is not safer due to the fact that of President Biden's commutation of a antheral who murdered 2 FBI agents," Patel said, referencing Biden’s determination to commute the condemnation of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activistic convicted of murdering two FBI agents connected a South Dakota reservation.
The agents' families, helium said, "[D]eserve amended than to person the antheral that point-blank scope fired a shotgun into their heads and murdered them released from prison."
"So it goes some ways."
The January 6 rioters, and their pardons, were a predominant taxable of the hearing.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., deed Patel with rapid-fire questions regarding his engagement successful and promotion of a opus recorded by the "J6 Prison Choir," a radical of Capitol rioters, during their incarceration.
Patel shared the song, "Justice for All," connected societal media. He said that astatine the clip helium "did not cognize astir the convulsive offenders," noting that helium "did not enactment successful immoderate of the unit successful and astir Jan. 6."
In response, Schiff gave Patel a harsh nationalist dressing-down implicit the unit and battle endured by the Capitol Police connected Jan. 6, 2021.
"Turn astir and look astatine them," Schiff told Patel earlier motioning to the officers lined up for extortion on the backmost of the room.
Patel declined to bash so.
"I privation you to look astatine them if you can, if you person the courageousness to look them successful the eye, Mr. Patel. Tell them you're arrogant of what you did," Schiff said.
"Tell them you're arrogant that you raised wealth disconnected of radical that assaulted their colleagues, that capsicum sprayed them, that bushed them with poles. Tell them you're arrogant of what you did," Schiff said, adding, "They're close there. They are guarding you today."
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New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker's questions to Patel regarding immoderate efforts by Trump to declassify documents aft leaving the White House were among the astir heated moments of the hearing.
Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, asked Patel repeatedly whether helium witnessed Trump handling documents marked arsenic classified oregon moving to declassify them aft leaving the Oval Office.
"In the sanction of each the values you person said today, did you oregon did you not attest to witnessing the president of the United States declassify documents?" Booker asked, his dependable rising respective octaves.
Patel told Booker helium did not cognize if the documents helium saw being declassified astatine Trump's Mar-a-Lago edifice successful Florida were seized by FBI agents successful the peculiar counsel probe, and helium urged Booker to get them legally.
"The question is: Will you prevarication for the president of the United States?" Booker said. "Would you prevarication for Donald Trump?"
"No," Patel said.
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Booker urged Patel to attest to the Senate implicit what helium said to the expansive jury.
It "would beryllium utterly irresponsible for this committee to determination guardant with his information … if we bash not cognize that the aboriginal caput of the FBI would interruption the instrumentality and prevarication for the president of the United States," Booker said.
"He's refusing the transparency that helium claims to adhere to. He is refusing to beryllium nonstop with the United States Senate," helium continued.
"Did helium oregon did helium not prevarication for the president? That is the question."
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