Raskin started his opening assertion by praising Patel for being the primary Indian-American to guide the FBI, however that was the place the flattery stopped. Raskin mentioned Patel’s “main qualification” for the job was his “unwavering loyalty to Trump.”
“Not like different administrators, you had no work expertise on the FBI, however you had revamped a thousand political and media appearances in help of Trump’s marketing campaign,” Raskin mentioned. “We have discovered how harmful it’s to call as director of the FBI a person who thinks of himself as a fairytale knight.”
Raskin laid into Patel for his dealing with of the investigation into Kirk’s killing.
“When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, whereas his killer was nonetheless on the free, you determined you did not have to be at FBI headquarters in Washington to work together with your crew whereas the chaotic manhunt unfolded,” Raskin mentioned. “You spent your night eating in a swanky Midtown Manhattan restaurant, and tweeting out false data that the topic of the capturing was in custody, an announcement you needed to retract one hour later. Your efficiency was so disturbing that even the MAGA base was alarmed.”
Raskin continued: “The FBI would possibly have the ability to survive your delusions of grandeur and the explosively unstable mood that was on show yesterday within the Senate. However the intractable drawback is that you’re working the FBI not as a regulation enforcement company charged with maintaining the American folks secure, however as a political enforcement company working immediately for the president’s vengeance marketing campaign.”
Raskin alleged that Patel has been “systematically purging” the FBI of its finest brokers. He mentioned Patel compelled out Mehtab Syed, the chief of the FBI’s Salt Lake Metropolis discipline workplace, weeks earlier than Kirk’s capturing, “depriving the FBI of an skilled counterterrorism professional described by her colleagues as completely the perfect and legendary.”
“She would have led the FBI’s manhunt, had she not been fired,” Raskin mentioned.
Raskin mentioned it is “unimaginable to overstate the destruction, chaos and demoralization” Patel has delivered to the FBI.
