‘Completely Corrupted’: GOP Senator Slams ‘Woefully Inexperienced’ Biden Officials While Backing Trump’s FBI Pick

Republican Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty called out the “woefully inexperienced” officials under President Joe Biden’s administration on NBC News Sunday in response to criticism of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of Kash Patel as FBI director.

Pushback from Democrats and other officials against Patel came after Trump announced Patel as his pick to lead the FBI on Saturday. On “Meet the Press,” NBC host Kristen Welker pressed the Republican senator on former Attorney General Bill Barr’s claim in his memoir that Patel lacked the experience to “qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency,” after the former president had floated the idea of promoting him to deputy FBI director at the end of his first term.

“Listen, I think you should have the Biden administration look at itself. What is the qualification of Tony Blinken to become Secretary of State? Well, he organized 51 so-called intelligence experts to put together a fake letter saying that Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. That must have qualified him to be secretary of State,” Hagerty said.

“President Trump is entitled to name his appointees. That is exactly what he’s doing, and I’m going to support this appointment. Kash has worked in national security,” Hagerty added. “He’s worked at the Department of Justice, and he’s somebody that has been willing to uncover the wrongs of the FBI. He’s the one that uncovered for the American public what happened with Russiagate. He’s the one that can see through the fix here.”

Welker pushed back against the lawmaker, highlighting that Barr served under Trump’s administration and asking whether Hagerty was disregarding the warning from the former official.