Kash Patel wasn’t about to let Senate Democrats define the narrative. In his confirmation hearing for FBI Director, Patel faced the predictable partisan grilling over President Trump’s decision to pardon 1,600 January 6 defendants. But instead of playing defense, Patel turned the tables—calling out the left’s blatant hypocrisy, particularly Biden’s last-minute commutation of a convicted cop killer.
Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wasted no time trying to frame Patel as an enabler of “insurrectionists,” asking, “So do you think that America is safer because the 1,600 people have been given an opportunity to come out of serving their sentences and live in our communities again?”
Without hesitation, Patel fired back:
“Senator, I have not looked at all 1,600 individual cases. I have always advocated for imprisoning those that cause harm to our law enforcement and civilian communities.”
Then he lowered the boom.
“I also believe America is not safer because President Biden commuted the sentence of a man who murdered two FBI agents. Agent Coler and Agent Williams’ families deserve better than to have the man who, at point-blank range, fired a shotgun into their heads and murdered them, released from prison. So it goes both ways.”
That “man” is Leonard Peltier, a far-left radical convicted in 1977 of executing two FBI agents—Ronald Williams and Jack Coler—during a violent shootout with the American Indian Movement in South Dakota. For decades, leftist activists have tried to whitewash his crimes, portraying him as a victim of government overreach. And in one of his final acts in office, Biden set him free.
Durbin, clearly flustered, downplayed the comparison.
“Leonard Peltier was in prison for 45 years,” Durbin weakly responded. “He’s 80 years old, and he was sentenced to home confinement. So he’s not free, as you might have just suggested. He killed two FBI agents. That he did, and he went to prison for it and should have.”
Amazing. Durbin admitted that yes, Peltier executed two FBI agents, yes, he was guilty, yes, he deserved to go to prison—but somehow it was fine for Biden to set him free. Meanwhile, he expects Patel to apologize for Trump pardoning protesters?
Patel wasn’t having it. Instead of engaging in Durbin’s game, he shifted the conversation to real criminal threats.
“Senator, America will be safe when we don’t have 200,000 drug overdoses in two years. America will be safe when we don’t have 50 homicides a day.”
Boom.
Instead of treating January 6 defendants—many of whom were nonviolent trespassers—as the greatest threat to America, Patel turned the focus back to what actually makes communities unsafe: crime, fentanyl, and open borders.
Patel’s blunt response set social media on fire. Conservatives and Trump supporters immediately praised his pushback, highlighting the double standard between how Democrats treat left-wing criminals versus those associated with Trump.
“Brutal reality check,” political commentator Camryn Kinsey posted on X.
Others pointed out the irony: Democrats who demand “accountability” for January 6 defendants have no problem with Biden pardoning violent criminals, cartel-linked drug offenders, and even corrupt political allies.
Patel’s strong defense of law enforcement didn’t come out of nowhere. Earlier in the hearing, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) laid out the harsh reality: “Public trust in the FBI is low. Only 41% of the American public thinks the FBI is doing a good job. This is the lowest rating in a century.”
He also made a powerful case for why Patel is the right person to fix the Bureau.
“Patel has managed large intelligence and defense bureaucracies, identified and countered national security threats, prosecuted and defended criminals. He has done this while fighting for transparency and accountability in the government,” Grassley said.
And that is precisely why Democrats hate him. Patel has vowed to clean house at the FBI, go after the Deep State corruption that targeted Trump, and restore integrity to an agency that has spent years acting as the Democratic Party’s enforcement arm.
JUST IN: Kash Patel shuts down a frantic Amy Klobuchar after he promised to open a museum of the deep state.
Klobuchar (hysterical): “Did you say that the FBI headquarters should be shut down and reopened as a Museum of the Deep State?”
Patel: “If the best attacks on me are… pic.twitter.com/C3ujJoQF7U
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 30, 2025
