After 51 Senate Republicans voted to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director, various elected officials, legal experts, journalists and political commentators are condemning their "cowardice."
Patel's narrow 51-49 confirmation vote had the support of all but two Senate Republicans — Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — while all Democrats voted no. WIRED's Jake LaHut posted Collins' statement opposing Patel to Bluesky, in which she said his "high profile and aggressive political activity" should disqualify him for a role meant to be apolitical. Prior to the vote, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called Patel "the most dangerous of all the Trump nominees" and said he "shamelessly wants to turn the agency into Trump's loyalty police."
But after the vote, anger at Senate Republicans was palpable on social media — including from other Republicans. Olivia Troye, who was an advisor to former Vice President Mike Pence, credited Collins and Murkowski for their no votes but tore into the other 51 Republicans.
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"History will remember the cowardice of so many across the GOP who chose loyalty to Trump over the rule of law & the national security of our country," Troye wrote on Bluesky.
Atlantic contributing writer Norman Ornstein called it "scandalous and frightening" that Patel was confirmed, and ripped Republicans for having "bowed to Dear Leader." Popular YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen highlighted one of Patel's most controversial comments after the confirmation vote, reminding his followers that nearly every member of the Senate Republican Conference voted to confirm an FBI director who once said he planned to "come after the people in the media." Doug Lindner, who is the senior director of judiciary and democracy at the League of Conservation Voters, noted that Patel once posted a video of himself "chainsawing Democrats' heads off."
"Trump hacks are already trying to purge thousands of FBI agents who worked on 1/6 cases," Lindner wrote. "Whistleblowers say Kash Patel was directing those purges even before he was confirmed, and lied under oath about it during his confirmation hearing."
Gizmodo tech reporter Matt Novak grimly observed that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who has publicly opposed several of President Donald Trump's nominees — voted for Patel's confirmation the same day he announced he would not seek another term in 2026, and likened it to a "perfectly timed f--- you to the country." And after YouTuber Keith Edwards called Patel's elevation to FBI director "horrible," he opined that "all of the Republicans voting for him today know" that he intends to "hollow out the agency and go after Trump's enemies."
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