Kash Patel promoted violent Jan. 6 rioters. Now Trump wants him to run the FBI. | Opinion
Expect to hear plenty of concerns from the Democrats and a plethora of excuses from the Republicans if Kash Patel is asked about lionizing criminals who attack police officers.
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has a date Thursday with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which – at least in theory – holds the constitutional power of "advice and consent" for this nomination.
Patel, who served in Trump's first administration and was chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller on Jan. 6, 2021, is followed by a long digital trail of controversial claims and a history of getting cozy with conspiracy theories while drawing up lists of enemies to be dispatched on Trump's behalf.
As a candidate for one of the nation's top law enforcement jobs, the senators who question Patel should explore his feelings about criminals violently assaulting police officers. Patel should have to sing us a tune about "Justice for All."
That's the name of a song that Patel takes credit for producing, a tinny mix-up of incarcerated men singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" over a phone line and Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Trump often used the song to open campaign rallies last year, where he typically referred to the men singing it as "political hostages."
Donald Trump wants us to forget about the Jan. 6 riot
They were, in fact, people facing serious criminal charges, or already convicted, for their actions during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 – which Trump initially declared a "heinous attack" but now is determined to whitewash, since he was so very much to blame for it all.
The new Trump administration's attempt to memory-hole that is on the march. A U.S. Department of Justice web page set up to search for defendants accused of crimes that day has gone poof and disappeared.
Here's what didn't vanish (for now): a DOJ report that lists as members of what has been called the "January 6 Choir" six men who pleaded guilty to violent crimes they committed that day. As The Bulwark noted last week, the identities of the choir members had previously been "murky."
Let's take a closer look at Patel's choir boys, who were among more than 1,000 convicted criminals pardoned last week by Trump in a sweeping attempt to wipe away history.
These are the criminals Kash Patel thinks are heroes
Julian Khater, a New Jersey man sentenced in January 2023 to 80 months in prison, pleaded guilty after being accused of blasting three police officers in the face with pepper spray.
James McGrew, a Mississippi man sentenced in January 2023 to 78 months in prison, pleaded guilty after being accused of launching a wooden handrail at police officers after pushing and punching others.
Jorden Mink, a Pennsylvania man sentenced in June 2023 to 51 months in prison, pleaded guilty after being accused of using a baseball bat to shatter a window at the Capitol so he could climb inside, spitting at police officers and using a long pole to strike them.
Ryan Nichols, a Texas man sentenced last May to 63 months in prison, pleaded guilty after being accused of spraying police officers with pepper spray and entering the Capitol through a broken window while armed with a crowbar.
Ronald Sandlin, a Tennessee man sentenced in December 2022 to 63 months in prison, pleaded guilty after being accused of shouting, "You're going to die," while scuffling with police officers before smoking a joint in the Capitol rotunda and stealing a book from a Senate office, calling it "a souvenir."
Barton Shively, a Pennsylvania man sentenced in June 2023 to 18 months in prison, pleaded guilty after being accused of assaulting two police officers on the steps of the Capitol.
Patel's confirmation as FBI director will sidestep all this
Patel, in his ridiculously named book "Government Gangsters," published in 2023, calls all that "the insurrection that never was" in a chapter that incongruously also states: "January 6th was a national tragedy, and those who broke the law should be prosecuted swiftly for the crimes they committed."
He also complained in that book about Jan. 6 being used "as a tool to demonize half of America" while floating debunked conspiracy theories about "strange agitators" that day, an unsubstantiated reference to bogus claims that some in the crowd were there as plants for the federal agency Patel now hopes to lead.
Patel was promoting the release of "Justice for All" soon after his book came out, using it as a platform to reinforce his identity as a Trump toady willing to reject reality while casting criminals as the real victims of Jan. 6.
Trump immediately took to his website, Truth Social, to promote the song, before incorporating it into his road show. I'm sure Trump sees the value in an FBI director willing to obscure the facts while telling an outlandishly false tale.
A spokesperson for Patel did not respond when I asked this week if he still sees Jan. 6, 2021, as a "national tragedy" and requested more information about the choir he produced and promoted. That's another tried-and-true tactic in Trumpism – just ignore questions when the truth is inconvenient, like on the eve of a Senate hearing.
There are 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Expect to hear plenty of concerns from the Democrats and a plethora of excuses from the Republicans if Patel is asked about lionizing criminals who attack police officers.
Follow Paste BN columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan