President Donald Trump’s FBI Director appointee, Kash Patel, flipped the script on Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin Thursday as he called out former President Joe Biden’s pardoning of his family members and violent criminals.
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to pardon and commute the sentences of approximately 1,500 defendants charged for their actions at the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. At Patel’s confirmation hearing, Durbin asked the nominee whether he opposed the blanket pardons for the defendants after pointing to an egregious example of one of the individual’s violent actions after being released from prison.
“Was President Donald Trump wrong to give blanket clemency to the January 6 defendants?” Durbin asked.
“Thank you ranking member, a couple of things on that,” Patel said. “One, the power of the presidential pardon is just that, the president … as we discussed in our private meeting senator, I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement and including in that group, [I have] specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on January 6 and I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.”
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Durbin then asked the nominee if he believes the U.S. is “safer” as a result of the commutations, leading Patel to point to Biden’s last-minute commutation of Native American activist Leonard Peltier who served a life sentence for the deaths of two FBI agents in June 1975. The now-former president commuted the sentences of 2,500 individuals, including two who were convicted of killing a police officer, on the Friday before he left office.
“Senator, I have not looked at all 1,600 cases, I have always advocated for imprisoning those who cause harm to our law enforcement and civilian communities. I also believe America is not safer because [of] President Biden’s commutation of a man who murdered two FBI agents. Agent Coler’s and Agent William’s family deserve better than to have the man who at point-blank range, fired a shotgun into their heads and murdered them released from prison. So it goes both ways,” Patel said.
Durbin attempted to defend Biden’s commutations by arguing that Peltier is an elderly man who is in home confinement. When he continued to press Patel on the pardoned defendants, the FBI nominee said the nation will be safe once the number of homicides and drug overdoses is reduced across the U.S.
Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, in December of any crimes potentially committed between Jan. 1, 2014 and Dec. 1, 2024, and issued preemptive pardons for five of his family members minutes before he exited office. Durbin criticized the former president for issuing the last-minute pardons for his family during a Jan. 21 appearance on CNN.
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