The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed Kash Patel as the next director of the F.B.I., installing a hard-line critic of the bureau whose unwavering loyalty to President Trump has raised questions over the independence of the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
The 51-to-49 vote, with two Republican defections, means that Mr. Patel will now oversee the vast surveillance and investigative powers of the F.B.I., whose mission is seeking out the truth even if it angers the president. As its director, Mr. Patel will take over as the bureau has entered a particularly turbulent period, with the forced departures of some of its top officials.
Democrats in the Senate had hoped to slow his nomination, citing Mr. Patel’s repeated promises to enact a campaign of revenge on Mr. Trump’s behalf, his pledge to reshape the agency and his refusal to say that Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election. But they had little success swaying their colleagues across the aisle, who are wary of eliciting the political wrath of Mr. Trump or his powerful allies like Elon Musk.
This month, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, accused Mr. Patel of improperly directing a slew of forced departures at the bureau without having been confirmed as its leader. Mr. Durbin added on Thursday that Mr. Patel’s apparent involvement stood at odds with his claim during his hearing that he was unaware of any political retribution at the F.B.I. that was unfolding as he testified.
Mr. Patel’s financial disclosures also raised eyebrows, but none of those concerns substantially shifted his support, allowing him to essentially glide through the confirmation process.
In the end, two Republicans opposed Mr. Patel’s nomination, Senator Lisa Murkowski, a centrist from Alaska, and Senator Susan Collins of Maine.
