Durbin: The American people deserve an FBI that is focused on keeping them safe & protecting their constitutional rights. Instead, what they are getting is an FBI that prioritizes political retribution
WASHINGTON – Ahead of tomorrow’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered a speech on the Senate floor condemning Patel’s partisan and incompetent mismanagement of the FBI. During his speech, Durbin also highlighted senior FBI officials who have been forced out under the direction of Patel.
Tomorrow’s hearing will be the first time Director Patel will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee as Director.
“In just the first weeks of this Administration, we witnessed the unprecedented and forced removal of dozens of senior FBI officials—decorated, career professionals who spent their lives protecting this country from terrorism, espionage, and cyberattacks,” said Durbin. “These patriots swore an oath to defend the Constitution and served Republican and Democratic Presidents alike. They were shown the door for one reason: political retribution. Don’t take my word for it. Just last week, former acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll filed a federal lawsuit accusing Director Patel and other Trump officials of orchestrating a politically motivated purge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Durbin continued, “According to this lawsuit though, Mr. Driscoll said [that] Mr. Patel said, ‘the FBI tried to put the President in jail, and he hasn’t forgotten it.’ And no one, up-and-down the chain of command, has been spared from this retribution. All six of the FBI’s Executive Assistant Directors—gone under the Trump Administration. At least 18 Special Agents in Charge [SACs] of major field offices—gone. As many as 5,000 nonpartisan, career public servants—gone.”
During his floor speech, Durbin highlighted Mr. Driscoll’s service at the FBI. For nearly two decades, Mr. Driscoll held some of the Bureau’s most demanding and sensitive assignments: serving on a SWAT team, leading the elite Hostage Rescue Team, and serving as tactical section chief for the Critical Incident Response Group. For his bravery under fire during tactical operations, Mr. Driscoll was awarded both the FBI Medal of Valor and the Shield of Bravery, among the highest honors the Bureau can bestow. Mr. Driscoll was forced out after he resisted the White House’s demand that he produce a list of thousands of FBI personnel who worked on investigations related to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Durbin then highlighted the service of Mehtab Syed, who worked for the FBI for nearly 20 years. She rose from counterterrorism assignments and overseas postings in Islamabad and Amman to senior leadership in cyber and counterintelligence. She was the Special Agent in Charge of the Salt Lake City Field Office. She should be leading the investigation of the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk,. but she was forced out this summer because she was “not a good fit.”
“We don’t know exactly what impact her steady and experienced leadership would have had on this investigation. But we lost a talented, dedicated person whose talents were applied for the safety of our country. We do know that the person who pushed her out, Director Patel, quickly took to social media and falsely announced that the suspect was in custody, only to be forced to walk back those claims,” said Durbin.
At least 18 Special Agents in Charge (SAC), the FBI’s top leaders in the field, have been forced into retirement, removed, or reassigned to diminished roles. These men and women oversee hundreds of agents and manage some of the most sensitive and complex investigations in the country. Many of these SACs have spent their careers in counterintelligence and cyber operations, defending this country against hostile foreign powers, espionage, and cyberattacks.
“Many [SACs] devoted decades to civil rights enforcement, public corruption cases, and violent crime investigations—ensuring that state and local law enforcement across the country were working closely with seasoned federal law enforcement leaders they could trust,” said Durbin. “Still others rose from frontline criminal work to lead major field offices. Their backgrounds range from forensic science to counterintelligence, skills that are not easily replaced and are desperately needed. Director Patel’s foolhardy decision to force out this leadership has hallowed out this important agency. It has cost the Bureau decades of institutional knowledge and diminished its capacity to respond to the greatest threats facing our nation.”
In his remarks, Durbin highlighted these dedicated professionals, and so many more, were fired, forced out, or reassigned to diminished roles because they had the courage to do their jobs—whether that meant investigating the January 6th riot, preventing domestic terrorist plots, pursuing corruption, or upholding the rule of law. The FBI Agents Association has warned that this purge will “severely weaken the Bureau’s ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and ultimately risk setting up the Bureau for failure.”
“At a moment when foreign adversaries are shredding our cyber defenses, when terrorist organizations remain determined to strike, when violent crime continues to threaten our communities, we are losing the very people best equipped to respond. The American people deserve an FBI that is focused on keeping them safe and protecting their constitutional rights. Instead, what they are getting is an FBI that prioritizes political retribution and the Director’s social media clout,” Durbin concluded. “Tomorrow, I will press Director Patel on his decisions to weaken the FBI—[the very agency that] is designed to protect our American families by forcing out its most experienced public servants, at the expense of our national security and public safety.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.
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