Kash Patel's FBI leadership under scrutiny ahead of Senate Judiciary oversight hearing

As questions swirl about FBI Director Kash Patel s leadership of the agency particularly in the immediate hours after the assassination of Charlie Kirk Senate Republicans appear ready to back him Patel is due before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an annual oversight hearing of the FBI on Tuesday morning but the timing comes at a crucial moment for him as scrutiny mounts over a wave of firings at the agency and his handling of the inquiry into Kirk s alleged killer There is also a new face in FBI management former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey who was sworn in on Monday in a power-sharing role with FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino KNIVES ARE OUT FOR EMBATTLED FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL DESPITE TRUMP SUPPORTBut Senate Republicans on the Judiciary Committee intend to look at Patel s track record as a whole over the last nine months and they signaled that they still have confidence in him Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley R-Iowa advised Fox News Digital that he just planned to talk about oversight of the FBI during the hearing When required if he felt there should be increased scrutiny of Patel Grassley announced Well that's why we have an oversight hearing we do it once a year The top Democrat on the panel Sen Dick Durbin D-Ill however signaled that he would be going after Patel particularly in the wake of a lawsuit from three former senior FBI executives last week who alleged they were fired from the agency for political reasons and Patel s firing of former Salt Lake City FBI field office head Mehtab Syed Durbin reported it was unclear what kind of impact Syed would have had on the examination but he noted her lengthy career and specialty in counterterrorism TRUMP PRAISES FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL FOR SPEEDY CAPTURE OF CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN We do know that the person who pushed her out Director Patel promptly took to social media and falsely publicized that the suspect was in custody Durbin revealed on the Senate floor Remember that Only to be forced to walk back those indicates shortly after Patel has again come under the microscope for a post he made on X in the hours after Kirk was killed where he wrote The subject for the horrific shooting in the present day that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody However that individual and another were caught and circulated before law enforcement nabbed -year-old Tyler Robinson particular hours after the shooting Patel pushed back on criticism of his performance during an appearance on Fox Friends on Monday where he argued that his post was made in a push for transparency I was being transparent with working with the society on our findings as I had them he commented Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment Sure But do I regret putting it out Absolutely not Sen Josh Hawley R-Mo a member of the committee notified Fox News Digital that there would be a lot of things to learn during the hearing but appeared to still back Patel as director KASH PATEL'S FALSE START ON CHARLIE KIRK KILLER DRAWS SCRUTINY BUT FBI NABBED SUSPECT IN THE END You know my view is listen he serves at the pleasure of the president Hawley disclosed If the president has confidence in him then I think that you know that's good enough for me To Hawley s point President Donald Trump appears to still assistance his embattled FBI director I am very proud of the FBI Trump announced Saturday Kash and everyone else they have done a great job And Sen Thom Tillis R-N C and a member of the panel announced that he was sure that a lot of people are going to be looking at the shooting but argued his focus was on the whole of Patel s tenure at the FBI one that he supported during his nomination and one he still supports now When requested about Patel s performance during the probe in Utah Tillis contended Those things are fluid I've seen a lot of armchair quarterbacks in my day and I saw a lot of armchair quarterbacks or Monday morning quarterbacks Tillis announced Could they have been tighter People are demanding updates I mean if the only thing that they're criticizing you for is talking about the probable individuals or persons of interest too soon that's kind of weak Go after various more foundational things Sen Cory Booker D-N J announced that he maintained it would be a very key hearing the upcoming day in light of Patel s social media post and direction of the agency It s something that even the lowest level comms director knows Booker communicated Fox News Digital You don't push out information that's wrong in an review you stick to the facts and it's very disappointing I think indicative of the kind of leader that he is I'm also more concerned right now with how a large number of of the FBI representatives he's fired for no cause He's politicized this department and weaponized the department in a partisan way that's disappointing he continued And then certainly him really undermining investigations that are ongoing that keep Americans safe is very troubling