Trumps FBI pick Kash Patel advances in full Senate procedural vote before expected confirmation

WASHINGTON — FBI Director-designate Kash Patel advanced Tuesday in a first procedural vote on the Senate floor Tuesday, with Republicans cheering that President Trump’s pick “has the votes” and will be confirmed later this week.The Senate voted 48-45 along party lines to open debate on the nominee, starting the countdown for 30 hours of discussion before Patel is expected to receive final approval Thursday, sources close to the confirmation process tell The Post.GOP senators have praised Long Island native Patel, 44, for his experience as a prosecutor and former national security aide in the first Trump administration — as well as his firm commitment to rooting out political “weaponization” at the FBI and getting back to the basics of the bureau’s law enforcement duties.In his confirmation hearing, Patel pledged to “cut in half” the number of offenses committed across broad categories of crimes, including the “100,000 rapes … 100,000 drug overdoses from Chinese fentanyl and Mexican heroin, and … 17,000 homicides.”The nominee, who has celebrated rank-and-file FBI agents for being “courageous, apolitical warriors of justice,” will serve a 10-year term if confirmed as one of the nation’s chief law enforcement officers.“Mr.Patel has undergone a rigorous vetting,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a hearing last week.

“He produced more than a thousand pages of records and disclosed over a thousand interviews.He underwent an FBI background investigation, produced a financial disclosure, and worked with ethics officials to identify and resolve potential conflicts of interest.”“At his hearing, he answered questions for more than five hours and provided 147 pages of responses to written questions,” Grassley added.

“We’ve examined every detail of his life, and he’s been subjected to relentless attack on his character the whole time.”Democrats on the Judiciary panel opposed Patel by dela...