Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to lead the FBI, passed through committee on Thursday.
The post Kash Patel Advances Through Committee, Setting Up a Full Senate Vote appeared first on Breitbart.
FIRST ON FOX: A team member for President Donald Trump's FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, pushed back Wednesday on allegations that Patel played a role in the firings of bureau personnel just hours after swearing not to do so during his confirmation hearing late last month – dismissing accusations from the panel's top Democrat as a politically motivated effort to derail his confirmation.
A senior transition team official for Patel refuted the allegations made by the ranking Senate Judiciary Committee Democrat, Dick Durbin, that Patel had orchestrated the firings after his confirmation hearing.
This person told Fox News that Patel had left Washington the night of his confirmation hearing to fly home to Las Vegas, where he has "been sitting there waiting for the process to play out."
The official also refuted the notion that Patel has had anything to do with the firings of bureau personnel, as alleged by Durbin in Senate floor remarks the previous day.
"Mr. Patel has been going through the confirmation process, and everything he has done since his nomination has been above board," the official said in an interview with Fox News Digital. "And any insinuation otherwise is false."
In addition to his trip home to Vegas, Patel has also spent time hunting away from Washington, this person said, providing photographed evidence of Patel's activities.
The news comes one day after Durbin's team cited "highly credible" whistleblower reports his office had received in recent days, which they said indicated that Patel had been "personally directing the ongoing purge of FBI employees prior to his Senate confirmation for the role."
Durbin's staff also sent a letter Tuesday to the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, requesting an investigation into these allegations.
MORE THAN HALF A MILLION LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL BACK PATEL AS FBI DIRECTOR
"I have received highly credible information from multiple sources that Kash Patel has been personally directing the ongoing purge of career civil servants at the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Durbin said in the letter to Horowitz.
"Although Mr. Patel is President Trump’s nominee to be FBI Director, he is still a private citizen with no role in government."
If true, Durbin has alleged that Patel's reported actions could put him on the hook for perjury.
Patel claimed during his Senate confirmation hearing late last month that he would use his role to protect agents against efforts to weaponize the bureau.
"All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution," Patel told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., during that hearing.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have sought to discredit Patel's confirmation in the days and weeks ahead of his confirmation – which they reiterated last week in a press conference, after announcing they would delay his committee confirmation vote by a full week.
Durbin told Fox News last week that their aim in delaying the hearing is to raise more public awareness about Patel’s previous actions, in hopes that doing so will shore up new opposition from some Republicans in the chamber.
Ultimately, lawmakers noted they can only delay Patel's committee vote through next week. Beyond that, they said, it is up to Republicans.
FIRST ON FOX: More than 680,000 law enforcement personnel have urged the Senate to confirm President Donald Trump's FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, as quickly as possible – a show of support that comes as Democrats on the panel have moved to delay his confirmation ahead of a planned vote this Thursday.
The total number of supporters from law enforcement agencies was shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, and includes state, local and federal backers from groups including the National Sheriffs’ Association, the National Police Association and more than 370,00 members of the national Fraternal Order of Police, which announced their support for Patel Monday night.
"Throughout the course of his federal career, Mr. Patel has become very well acquainted with our national security apparatus and the threats the United States faces abroad," the group said in the letter to the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
This group touted Patel's experience as a trial attorney for the Justice Department's National Security Division, at the National Security Council and later at the Department of Defense, where he previously served as chief of staff to the department's acting secretary.
DEMS DELAY PATEL COMMITTEE VOTE, DERIDE TRUMP FBI PICK AS DANGER TO US SECURITY
They also cited a "broad-ranging conversation" the group had with Patel, in which they said he "made a compelling case about his commitment to public safety and ways in which the FBI can support state and local law enforcement agencies."
"He has committed to building on the level of trust and collegiality the FBI enjoys with the law enforcement community, and we will all benefit from the enhanced impact the FBI can have on public safety in our communities."
The groups have praised what they described as Patel's "unwavering commitment" to upholding the rule of law, defending justice, and protecting the American people.
BONDI SWORN IN AS ATTORNEY GENERAL WITH MISSION TO END 'WEAPONIZATION' OF JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
The endorsements come just days before the Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote to advance Patel's nomination to be FBI director – a vote that has come under fresh scrutiny from Judiciary Democrats, who have cited recent efforts by the Trump administration to investigate FBI personnel involved in the Jan. 6 investigations.
Trump also touched off new concerns and criticism last week when he said he planned to fire at least some of the FBI officials involved in the Jan. 6 investigation, telling reporters that at least some of the agents, in his view, "were corrupt."
"Those people are gone, or they will be gone," Trump said of the agents, adding that it will be done "quickly and very surgically."
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on what, if any, new information Trump had received about the allegedly corrupt activity of the bureau, or the number of personnel that could be impacted.
FBI AGENTS GROUP TELLS CONGRESS TO TAKE URGENT ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST POLITICIZATION
Patel, for his part, used his confirmation hearing late last month to assure lawmakers he would protect agents against political retribution or efforts to weaponize the bureau.
"All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution," Patel told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., during that hearing.
Last week, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee succeeded in temporarily postponing Patel's confirmation hearing – pushing the committee vote to Thursday, Feb. 13 – as they demanded a second hearing from the Trump-aligned former Defense Department official seeking clarity on his previous remarks and his candor.
Democrats criticized Patel for both his previous actions and his remarks made on podcasts, social media and in his book, saying that in their view, Patel failed to assuage any of their concerns last week during his confirmation hearing – primarily, questions of whether he would take moves to ensure the bureau can continue to act without political interference.
Still, the opposition has been sharply contested by the panel's chairman, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
Grassley chastised attempts by Democrats to force Patel to testify again in a statement last week, dismissing the effort as "baseless."
He noted that Patel had already sat through a nearly six-hour Senate confirmation hearing, submitted "thousands of pages" of records to the panel, and nearly 150 pages of responses to lawmakers' written questions.
Barring any unexpected opposition, Patel is expected to clear both the committee vote Thursday morning and the full vote in the Republican-led chamber.
FBI records from the Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe will soon be released despite the dismissal of the case against President Donald Trump and his presidential immunity, according to a federal judge's ruling Monday.
In a court filing first obtained by Politico, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found that the FBI must disclose more information related to the case by Feb. 20.
The decision concerned a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case brought by journalist Jason Leopold.
Leopold filed a request with the FBI in 2022 after reports that Trump during his first term "allegedly flushed some presidential records down the toilet when he was still in the White House and brought presidential records, including sensitive classified documents, to his personal residence in Florida," according to the filing.
The FBI asked the court to authorize withholding the records under Exemption 7A, which concerns "records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that production of such law enforcement records or information…could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings."
In light of the SCOTUS ruling on presidential immunity as well as Trump's election win in November, Trump is exempt from criminal proceedings, but Howell found the documents could still be released because of that fact, as there are no law enforcement proceedings against him.
"Somewhat ironically, the constitutional and procedural safeguards attached to the criminal process include significant confidentiality mechanisms…. with a parallel safeguard in Exemption 7(A) to help preserve the necessary confidentiality of ongoing criminal investigations leading to anticipated enforcement actions, but for an immune president, Exemption 7(A) may simply be unavailable, as it is here," Howell said.
DEMOCRAT LAWMAKERS FACE BACKLASH FOR INVOKING ‘UNHINGED’ VIOLENT RHETORIC AGAINST MUSK
"Defendants’ motion for summary judgment seeking judgment in their favor as to the legality of relying on Exemption 7(A) to withhold entirely the FBI’s investigative files from the processing of the FOIA request at issue and to assert a Glomar response to the sixth category of requested information, must be denied, and plaintiff’s cross motion for summary judgment as to these legal issues is granted," the decision concluded. "The parties are directed to submit jointly, by February 20, 2025, a status report proposing a schedule to govern future proceedings to conclude this case expeditiously."
Howell also noted that though Trump is immune from prosecution, anyone who may have helped to "aid, abet and execute criminal acts," is not.
"Of course, while the Supreme Court has provided a protective and presumptive immunity cloak for a president's conduct, that cloak is not so large to extend to those who aid, abet and execute criminal acts on behalf of a criminally immune president," Howell wrote in a footnote. "The excuse offered after World War II by enablers of the fascist Nazi regime of 'just following orders' has long been rejected in this country's jurisprudence."
The FBI has uncovered thousands of records connected to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy as a result of President Donald Trump’s executive order to release the files.
Axios first reported that the FBI released 2,400 records tied to the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of Kennedy, which were not provided to the board that reviewed and disclosed the files.
When the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) submitted its plan to release the JFK files, it reportedly disclosed the existence of the records.
Fox News has confirmed with a person familiar with the records that the files were uncovered during the review.
DEADLINE LOOMS FOR RELEASE OF JFK ASSASSINATION FILES
"In 2020, the FBI opened the Central Records Complex and began a multi-year effort to first ship and then electronically inventory and store closed case files from FBI field offices across the country," the FBI told Fox News. "The resulting, more comprehensive records inventory, coupled with the technologic advances in automating the FBI's record keeping processes, allows us to more quickly search and locate records.
"The FBI conducted a new records search pursuant to President Trump's Executive Order issued on January 23, 2025, regarding the declassification of the assassination files of JFK, RFK, and MLK. The search resulted in approximately 2400 newly inventoried and digitized records that were previously unrecognized as related to the JFK assassination case file," the agency added. "The FBI has made the appropriate notifications of the newly discovered documents and is working to transfer them to the National Archives and Records Administration for inclusion in the ongoing declassification process."
Last month, Trump signed an executive order to declassify files on the assassinations of Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr.
TRUMP SIGNS ORDER TO DECLASSIFY FILES ON JFK, RFK AND MLK ASSASSINATIONS
"Everything will be revealed," Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office.
The executive order came after Trump had previously promised on the campaign trail to declassify the documents upon entering his second term, saying at the time, "When I return to the White House, I will declassify and unseal all JFK assassination-related documents. It’s been 60 years, time for the American people to know the truth."
Trump had initially promised to release the last batch of documents during his first term, but such efforts ultimately dissipated. Trump then blocked the release of hundreds of records on the assassination following several CIA and FBI appeals.
"I have no choice," Trump said in a memo, where he cited "potentially irreversible harm" to national security if he allowed the records to be released. Trump said at the time the potential harm to U.S. national security, law enforcement or foreign affairs is "of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure."
Fox News Digital's Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem called the FBI "corrupt" and appeared to accuse the bureau of leaking plans for "large-scale" immigration enforcement plans in the Los Angeles area.
The LA Times published an article Friday that said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would lead the operation, focusing on those without legal status in the U.S. or who have pending orders of removal, according to an internal government document reviewed by the publication.
The document was reportedly circulated among some government officials last week. The Times also reported that a federal law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal said LA FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration officers and agents are being called in to assist.
Noem shared the article on X, taking a dig at the FBI.
"The FBI is so corrupt," Noem wrote. "We will work with any and every agency to stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law."
ICE sources told Fox News they do not know where Noem got the information or what she is basing it on.
Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
The FBI had no comment on the matter.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi joined "Fox Report" on Sunday, where she discussed immigration enforcement and was asked about leaks within the government.
"Well, you know, if anyone leaks anything, people don’t understand that it jeopardizes the lives of our great men and women in law enforcement, and if you leaked it, we will find out who you are, and we will come after you," Bondi said. "It’s not going to stop our mission. It’s not going to stop the president’s mission to make America safe again."
She also said if people do not want to follow the law, the Department of Justice will prosecute them.
Bondi was then asked about an operation in Denver, Colorado, where individuals used bullhorns to let people know that ICE was coming, advising illegal immigrants of what they should and should not do if approached by agents.
In cases where people inform illegal immigrants that they are in danger, Bondi was asked if anything could or should be done to stop it.
"It very well could rise to the level of obstruction, and we will be looking at every single case where someone jeopardizes the lives of the great men and women in law enforcement, and they will be held accountable," Bondi said. "If you leak, if you do anything, like you said, if you come out with bullhorns that could jeopardize their lives, we will investigate it, and we will come after you."
One of the attorneys representing anonymous FBI agents suing the Department of Justice to block the public identification of agents who investigated Jan. 6 is a longtime anti-Trump lawyer who worked with House Democrats on President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
Norm Eisen is an attorney, CNN legal analyst and expert at the Brookings Institution public policy think tank who previously served as the U.S.' ambassador to the Czech Republic and special counsel for ethics and government reform under the Obama administration, when he earned the nicknames "Dr. No" and "The Fun Sponge" for reportedly ensuring the administration abide by ethics rules.
Eisen appeared in court on Thursday for a hearing before U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb involving a pair of lawsuits filed by two groups of FBI agents who investigated the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol Building as well as former special counsel Jack Smith's investigations and cases against Trump.
Eisen serves as executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund, which filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of the FBI agents who investigated Trump-related cases. State Democracy Defenders Fund is a nonprofit that bills itself as focused on defeating "election sabotage" and "autocracy in 2025 — and beyond."
"Credible reports indicate the FBI has been directed to systematically terminate all Bureau employees who had any involvement in investigations related to President Trump, and that Trump’s allies in the DOJ are planning to publicly disseminate the names of those employees they plan to terminate," State Democracy Defenders Fund wrote in its press release of the emergency order to block the public release of FBI personnel names involved in the Jan. 6 investigation.
Fox News Digital took a look back on Eisen's rhetoric and actions across the past few years and found that he has repeatedly been at the forefront of the legal cases against Trump, notably serving as co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment of Trump beginning in 2019.
FBI AGENTS GROUP TELLS CONGRESS TO TAKE URGENT ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST POLITICIZATION
House Democrats tapped Eisen — who early in his career specialized in financial fraud litigation and investigations — to help lead the first impeachment against the 45th president, which accused Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to allegedly seeking foreign interference from Ukraine to boost his re-election efforts in 2020. The House adopted two articles of impeachment against Trump, but the Senate ultimately voted to acquit him.
Eisen revealed following the impeachment effort that he initially drafted 10 articles of impeachment against Trump, not just two, which would have included issues such as "hush money" payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels. Although the payments were not included in the impeachment articles, they were a focal point of the Manhattan v. Trump trial that found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in May 2024.
FBI AGENTS DETAIL J6 ROLE IN EXHAUSTIVE QUESTIONNAIRE EMPLOYEES 'WERE INSTRUCTED TO FILL OUT'
"This was only the third impeachment trial of a president in American history, so it's remarkable that we even got those two," Eisen said in an NPR interview in 2020. "I will tell you that those two articles are a microcosm of all 10 of the impeachment articles that we drafted. They have features of all 10."
Eisen told Fox News Digital, when asked about his history of anti-Trump cases, that he was initially open to working with the first Trump administration, but that the president, "turned against the Constitution."
"I was initially open to Trump and even advised his first presidential transition," Eisen told Fox Digital in an emailed comment on Friday. "But he turned against the Constitution and laws."
"In his first administration and now, he was and is using the presidency to break the law and to help himself and his cronies like Elon Musk — not the American people," he continued. "To ensure the integrity of our democracy, I am pushing back through the bipartisan institutions I work with such as State Democracy Defenders Fund, which has strong conservative representation on our board."
Eisen is the co-founder of the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which made waves in 2023 and 2024 when it helped to initiate a Colorado court case to remove Trump from the primary ballot in the state, The New York Times reported.
The lawsuit, which ultimately landed in the Supreme Court, argued that Trump should be deemed ineligible from holding political office under a Civil War-era insurrection clause and that his name should thus be barred from appearing on the 2024 ballot. The group said that Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters breached the U.S. Capitol, violated a clause in the 14th Amendment that prevents officers of the United States, members of Congress or state legislatures who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the Constitution from holding political office.
Other states made similar legal claims to remove Trump, but each of the nine Supreme Court justices ruled in Trump’s favor in a decision released last March, ending the Colorado case and all others that were similar.
The State Democracy Defenders Action, which Eisen co-founded, has also been involved with other Trump-involved court cases, including in the Manhattan v. Trump case. The group helped file an amicus brief in February, advocating that presiding Judge Juan Merchan sentence Trump just days ahead of his inauguration. Trump was ultimately sentenced to unconditional discharge, meaning he faces no fines or jail time.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Manhattan case in May 2024. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office worked to prove that Trump had falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star, Stormy Daniels, ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006.
Eisen also founded another group, the States United Democracy Center, which filed an amicus brief in 2024 in Fulton County, Georgia, court, advocating that District Attorney Fani Willis' racketeering case against Trump not be dismissed.
The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled in December 2024 that Willis and her office are barred from prosecuting the case. The case worked to prove that Trump had led a "criminal racketeering enterprise" to change the outcome of the 2020 election in Georgia. Trump has maintained his innocence in that case, as well as the other federal and state charges brought against him between the 2020 and 2024 election, slamming them as Democrat lawfare.
Eisen, in his capacity as executive chair and founder of State Democracy Defenders Fund, also sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking Committee Member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. on Monday to speak out against Kash Patel's nomination as director of the FBI under the second Trump administration. Eisen said he had ethics concerns surrounding Patel's previous work in Qatar.
MAJOR FBI CHANGES KASH PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 IF CONFIRMED AS DIRECTOR
The FBI lawsuits followed acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sending a memo to acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll in late January, directing him to fire eight FBI employees who worked on the Jan. 6 investigation, as well as a terror case related to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel. The memo also informed the acting director to identify all current and former FBI personnel who took part in the case.
The memo's directive to identify those involved in the case sparked the two FBI lawsuits filed Tuesday, which seek to stop the collection of names and their public release.
"The individuals being targeted have served in law enforcement for decades, often putting their lives on the line for the citizens of this country," Eisen said in a statement provided in State Democracy Defenders Fund's press release announcing it filed an emergency order on behalf of the FBI agents. "Their rights and privacy must be preserved."
The judge temporarily barred the Trump DOJ on Thursday from disclosing information on the agents until she hears arguments and determines whether to issue a temporary restraining order.
Fox News Digital's Breanne Deppisch and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
The FBI and authorities in The Netherlands this week seized dozens of servers and domains for a hugely popular spam and malware dissemination service operating out of Pakistan. The proprietors of the service, who use the collective nickname “The Manipulaters,” have been the subject of three stories published here since 2015. The FBI said the main clientele are organized crime groups that try to trick victim companies into making payments to a third party.
One of several current Fudtools sites run by the principals of The Manipulators.
On January 29, the FBI and the Dutch national police seized the technical infrastructure for a cybercrime service marketed under the brands Heartsender, Fudpage and Fudtools (and many other “fud” variations). The “fud” bit stands for “Fully Un-Detectable,” and it refers to cybercrime resources that will evade detection by security tools like antivirus software or anti-spam appliances.
The Dutch authorities said 39 servers and domains abroad were seized, and that the servers contained millions of records from victims worldwide — including at least 100,000 records pertaining to Dutch citizens.
A statement from the U.S. Department of Justice refers to the cybercrime group as Saim Raza, after a pseudonym The Manipulaters communally used to promote their spam, malware and phishing services on social media.
“The Saim Raza-run websites operated as marketplaces that advertised and facilitated the sale of tools such as phishing kits, scam pages and email extractors often used to build and maintain fraud operations,” the DOJ explained.
The core Manipulaters product is Heartsender, a spam delivery service whose homepage openly advertised phishing kits targeting users of various Internet companies, including Microsoft 365, Yahoo, AOL, Intuit, iCloud and ID.me, to name a few.
The government says transnational organized crime groups that purchased these services primarily used them to run business email compromise (BEC) schemes, wherein the cybercrime actors tricked victim companies into making payments to a third party.
“Those payments would instead be redirected to a financial account the perpetrators controlled, resulting in significant losses to victims,” the DOJ wrote. “These tools were also used to acquire victim user credentials and utilize those credentials to further these fraudulent schemes. The seizure of these domains is intended to disrupt the ongoing activity of these groups and stop the proliferation of these tools within the cybercriminal community.”
Manipulaters advertisement for “Office 365 Private Page with Antibot” phishing kit sold via Heartsender. “Antibot” refers to functionality that attempts to evade automated detection techniques, keeping a phish deployed and accessible as long as possible. Image: DomainTools.
KrebsOnSecurity first wrote about The Manipulaters in May 2015, mainly because their ads at the time were blanketing a number of popular cybercrime forums, and because they were fairly open and brazen about what they were doing — even who they were in real life.
We caught up with The Manipulaters again in 2021, with a story that found the core employees had started a web coding company in Lahore called WeCodeSolutions — presumably as a way to account for their considerable Heartsender income. That piece examined how WeCodeSolutions employees had all doxed themselves on Facebook by posting pictures from company parties each year featuring a large cake with the words FudCo written in icing.
A follow-up story last year about The Manipulaters prompted messages from various WeCodeSolutions employees who pleaded with this publication to remove stories about them. The Saim Raza identity told KrebsOnSecurity they were recently released from jail after being arrested and charged by local police, although they declined to elaborate on the charges.
The Manipulaters never seemed to care much about protecting their own identities, so it’s not surprising that they were unable or unwilling to protect their own customers. In an analysis released last year, DomainTools.com found the web-hosted version of Heartsender leaked an extraordinary amount of user information to unauthenticated users, including customer credentials and email records from Heartsender employees.
Almost every year since their founding, The Manipulaters have posted a picture of a FudCo cake from a company party celebrating its anniversary.
DomainTools also uncovered evidence that the computers used by The Manipulaters were all infected with the same password-stealing malware, and that vast numbers of credentials were stolen from the group and sold online.
“Ironically, the Manipulaters may create more short-term risk to their own customers than law enforcement,” DomainTools wrote. “The data table ‘User Feedbacks’ (sic) exposes what appear to be customer authentication tokens, user identifiers, and even a customer support request that exposes root-level SMTP credentials–all visible by an unauthenticated user on a Manipulaters-controlled domain.”
Police in The Netherlands said the investigation into the owners and customers of the service is ongoing.
“The Cybercrime Team is on the trail of a number of buyers of the tools,” the Dutch national police said. “Presumably, these buyers also include Dutch nationals. The investigation into the makers and buyers of this phishing software has not yet been completed with the seizure of the servers and domains.”
U.S. authorities this week also joined law enforcement in Australia, France, Greece, Italy, Romania and Spain in seizing a number of domains for several long-running cybercrime forums and services, including Cracked and Nulled. According to a statement from the European police agency Europol, the two communities attracted more than 10 million users in total.
Other domains seized as part of “Operation Talent” included Sellix, an e-commerce platform that was frequently used by cybercrime forum members to buy and sell illicit goods and services.
Residents across the United States are being inundated with text messages purporting to come from toll road operators like E-ZPass, warning that recipients face fines if a delinquent toll fee remains unpaid. Researchers say the surge in SMS spam coincides with new features added to a popular commercial phishing kit sold in China that makes it simple to set up convincing lures spoofing toll road operators in multiple U.S. states.
Last week, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) warned residents to be on the lookout for a new SMS phishing or “smishing” scam targeting users of EZDriveMA, MassDOT’s all electronic tolling program. Those who fall for the scam are asked to provide payment card data, and eventually will be asked to supply a one-time password sent via SMS or a mobile authentication app.
Reports of similar SMS phishing attacks against customers of other U.S. state-run toll facilities surfaced around the same time as the MassDOT alert. People in Florida reported receiving SMS phishing that spoofed Sunpass, Florida’s prepaid toll program.
This phishing module for spoofing MassDOT’s EZDrive toll system was offered on Jan. 10, 2025 by a China-based SMS phishing service called “Lighthouse.”
In Texas, residents said they received text messages about unpaid tolls with the North Texas Toll Authority. Similar reports came from readers in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Washington. This is by no means a comprehensive list.
A new module from the Lighthouse SMS phishing kit released Jan. 14 targets customers of the North Texas Toll Authority (NTTA).
In each case, the emergence of these SMS phishing attacks coincided with the release of new phishing kit capabilities that closely mimic these toll operator websites as they appear on mobile devices. Notably, none of the phishing pages will even load unless the website detects that the visitor is coming from a mobile device.
Ford Merrill works in security research at SecAlliance, a CSIS Security Group company. Merrill said the volume of SMS phishing attacks spoofing toll road operators skyrocketed after the New Year, when at least one Chinese cybercriminal group known for selling sophisticated SMS phishing kits began offering new phishing pages designed to spoof toll operators in various U.S. states.
According to Merrill, multiple China-based cybercriminals are selling distinct SMS-based phishing kits that each have hundreds or thousands of customers. The ultimate goal of these kits, he said, is to phish enough information from victims that their payment cards can be added to mobile wallets and used to buy goods at physical stores, online, or to launder money through shell companies.
A component of the Chinese SMS phishing kit Lighthouse made to target customers of The Toll Roads, which refers to several state routes through Orange County, Calif.
Merrill said the different purveyors of these SMS phishing tools traditionally have impersonated shipping companies, customs authorities, and even governments with tax refund lures and visa or immigration renewal scams targeting people who may be living abroad or new to a country.
“What we’re seeing with these tolls scams is just a continuation of the Chinese smishing groups rotating from package redelivery schemes to toll road scams,” Merrill said. “Every one of us by now is sick and tired of receiving these package smishing attacks, so now it’s a new twist on an existing scam.”
In October 2023, KrebsOnSecurity wrote about a massive uptick in SMS phishing scams targeting U.S. Postal Service customers. That story revealed the surge was tied to innovations introduced by “Chenlun,” a mainland China-based proprietor of a popular phishing kit and service. At the time, Chenlun had just introduced new phishing pages made to impersonate postal services in the United States and at least a dozen other countries.
SMS phishing kits are hardly new, but Merrill said Chinese smishing groups recently have introduced innovations in deliverability, by more seamlessly integrating their spam messages with Apple’s iMessage technology, and with RCS, the equivalent “rich text” messaging capability built into Android devices.
“While traditional smishing kits relied heavily on SMS for delivery, nowadays the actors make heavy use of iMessage and RCS because telecom operators can’t filter them and they likely have a higher success rate with these delivery channels,” he said.
It remains unclear how the phishers have selected their targets, or from where their data may be sourced. A notice from MassDOT cautions that “the targeted phone numbers seem to be chosen at random and are not uniquely associated with an account or usage of toll roads.”
Indeed, one reader shared on Mastodon yesterday that they’d received one of these SMS phishing attacks spoofing a local toll operator, when they didn’t even own a vehicle.
Targeted or not, these phishing websites are dangerous because they are operated dynamically in real-time by criminals. If you receive one of these messages, just ignore it or delete it, but please do not visit the phishing site. The FBI asks that before you bin the missives, consider filing a complaint with the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), including the phone number where the text originated, and the website listed within the text.
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation" that President Donald Trump's changes to the federal work force have caused "chaos on steroids."
The post Dem Sen. Warner: Trump’s Federal Worker Changes Caused ‘Chaos on Steroids’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) claimed Sunday on MSNBC's "Inside" that "nobody in the civil service can be fired because of political reasons."
The post Raskin Says No Civil Servant Can Be Fired for Harboring Political Views appeared first on Breitbart.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested more than 7,400 people in nine days across several states amid its aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration since the new Trump administration came into office.
ICE officers have been seen carrying out raids of homes, work sites, and other establishments, while deportations have also ramped up, with the Trump administration also vowing to send the most violent migrants to Guantánamo Bay.
According to a compilation of daily totals of arrests, as of Jan. 31, ICE has so far arrested 7,412 people who the agency says are in the country illegally. The agency says that nearly 6,000 ICE detainers have been placed on individuals.
NYC RESIDENTS PRAISE ICE RAIDS AFTER VIOLENT GANG MEMBER CAPTURED
ICE has posted nine daily arrest totals to X and has also posted details from various raids across sanctuary cities like New York City, Chicago and Boston where they have scooped up illegals accused of sex crimes against minors, rapes, guns and drug offenses, while violent gang members belonging to Tren de Aragua and MS-13 have also been taken off the streets.
Border czar Tom Homan has said the administration is currently only targeting violent illegal aliens while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees ICE, says federal immigration authorities are arresting the "worst of the worst" in raids. She says the streets are now safer as a result.
Many of the ICE raids have been carried out alongside other federal agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Noem joined an immigration enforcement raid in New York City Tuesday morning in which officers picked up Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 26, an alleged ringleader of the violent Tren de Aragua gang. Zambrano-Pacheco is the same man caught on camera in a viral video showing heavily armed men kicking down an apartment door at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, last summer.
Luis Adolfo Guerra Perez, 19, a Guatemalan citizen and MS-13 gang member, was arrested by ICE in Massachusetts last week. He was facing state gun charges and had previously been ordered to be deported before he was released by a Boston court.
ICE has published details of more than 60 cases while the White House X account has posted details of at least 20 others.
NOEM SAYS 'WORST OF THE WORST' ARRESTED IN NYC RAID TARGETING CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
However, for the vast majority of the 7,412, details on their criminal histories are not yet available.
The arrests total come as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed that the "worst of the worst" criminal migrants will be temporarily housed at Guantánamo Bay detention camp and that "all options will be on the table" for military action against the cartels.
Hegseth made the announcement in an interview with "Fox and Friends" on Friday and it came on the heels of an announcement made by President Donald Trump on Wednesday that he will be instructing the Pentagon to prepare Guantánamo Bay to detain 30,000 "criminal illegal aliens."
"Today I'm also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay," Trump said. "Most people don't even know about it."
It was later learned that Trump signed a presidential memorandum, not an executive order, on the matter.
News of the arrests has been generally well-received by locals living in these areas.
Ramses Frías, a local Queens activist who’s voiced concerns over a crime crisis gripping his neighborhood, which is partially represented by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said the raids have also been warmly received by the community.
"Many residents, from immigrants to citizens, welcome ICE coming in and taking the criminals out of these communities," Frías, a city council candidate, told Fox News Digital. "They welcome law and order and want safe streets."
However, not everyone agreed with the raids and Mayor Brandon Johnson recently "reaffirmed" his commitment to keep Chicago a sanctuary city, as did Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
A fugitive on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for allegedly killing his wife on their wedding night in Illinois more than 12 years ago was captured in Mexico, according to FBI Chicago.
Arnoldo Jimenez was taken into custody without incident on Thursday in Monterrey, Mexico, in connection with the 2012 death of 26-year-old Estrella Carrera.
On May 13, 2012, Carrera was found dead in the bathtub of her apartment in Burbank, Illinois, less than 48 hours after her marriage to Jimenez.
Jimenez was charged with first-degree murder, and a state warrant issued for his arrest on May 15, 2012. A federal warrant was issued two days later after Jimenez was charged federally with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
FBI Chicago, FBI San Antonio, FBI LEGAT Mexico City and the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois collaborated in the investigation to locate Jimenez. Agents with the Fiscalía General de la República, in conjunction with the International Criminal Police Organization, arrested him.
TRUMP ADMIN TELLS SENIOR FBI RANKS TO RESIGN OR BE FIRED
"The FBI is extremely appreciative of the Burbank Police Department, our law enforcement partners in Mexico, and the public for their tremendous investigative efforts and collaboration in the capture of Ten Most Wanted Fugitive Arnoldo Jimenez," Douglas S. DePodesta, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office, said in a statement "The FBI will use all of its available resources to bring criminals to justice, no matter how much time has passed or where they may be in the world."
Burbank Police Deputy Chief William Casey said: "The apprehension of Arnoldo Jimenez was the result of the tireless teamwork by the FBI and Burbank Police Department, and we would like to commend the professionalism and dedication of everyone involved. The FBI and Burbank Police Department were committed to bringing justice for Estrella Carrera and her family."
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Jimenez will remain in custody pending extradition proceedings.
He was the fourth-most wanted fugitive in the U.S. when he was taken into custody.
MSNBC contributor Andrew Weissmann said Thursday on MSNBC's "Inside" that President Donald Trump couldn't fire "career FBI personnel without cause" after serval agents and officials have been dismissed or asked to resign.
The post Weissmann: Trump Can’t Fire Career FBI Personnel Without Cause appeared first on Breitbart.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) shared FBI whistleblower records on Thursday that revealed an anti-Trump agent was behind former Special Counsel Jack Smith's 2020 case against President Donald Trump.
The post Grassley Shares FBI Whistleblower Records Revealing Anti-Trump Agent Behind Jack Smith 2020 Case appeared first on Breitbart.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents in charge are reportedly helping with President Donald Trump's efforts to target criminal illegal aliens, Fox News reported Friday.
The post Report: FBI’s 55 Field Offices ‘Working Really Hard’ to Help Target Criminal Illegals Across U.S. appeared first on Breitbart.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo to the acting FBI director Friday evening directing him to terminate eight FBI employees and identify all current and former bureau personnel assigned to Jan. 6 and Hamas cases for an internal review, Fox News has learned.
Bove's memo to acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, which was obtained by Fox News, asserts the Department of Justice cannot trust the FBI employees to carry out President Donald Trump's agenda.
The subject of the memo is "Terminations."
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FIRES MORE THAN A DOZEN KEY OFFICIALS ON FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH'S TEAM
"This memorandum sets forth a series of directives, authorized by the Acting Attorney General, regarding personnel matters to be addressed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Bove wrote.
Bove, a former Trump defense attorney, directed Driscoll to fire eight specific FBI employees by Monday, Feb. 3, at 5:30 p.m.
"I do not believe that the current leadership of the Justice Department can trust these FBI employees to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully," Bove wrote in the memo.
Bove cited comments made by President Trump on his first day back in office, in which Trump accused the Biden administration's law enforcement and intelligence agencies of going after Biden's political adversaries.
"The American people have witnessed the previous administration engage in a systemic campaign against its perceived political opponents, weaponizing the legal force of numerous Federal law enforcement agencies and the Intelligence Community against those perceived political opponents in the form of investigations, prosecutions, civil enforcement actions, and other related actions," Bove's memo noted. "This includes the FBI."
Bove said the FBI’s "prior leadership actively participated in what President Trump appropriately described as ‘a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years’ with respect to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"The weaponization of the FBI’s security clearance process is similarly troubling," Bove continued. "So too are issues relating to the FBI’s reticence to address instructions and requests from, among other places, the Justice Department."
Bove said the problems "are symptomatic of deficiencies in previous leadership that must now be addressed."
Bove wrote that he "deem[s] these terminations necessary, pursuant to President Trump’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order, entitled ‘Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government’ in order to continue the process of restoring a culture of integrity, credibility, accountability, and responsiveness to the leadership and directives of President Trump and the Justice Department."
Beyond the terminations of the eight employees, Bove directed Driscoll to identify by noon Tuesday, Feb. 4, "all current and former FBI personnel assigned at any time to investigations and/or prosecutions" relating to "the events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021" and United States v. Haniyeh, a terrorism case against six Hamas leaders charged with planning and carrying out the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel.
The defendants in that case include Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, high-level Hamas leaders believed to have been assassinated in 2024 by Israeli operatives.
MAJOR FBI CHANGES KASH PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 IF CONFIRMED AS DIRECTOR
Bove ordered that the lists of employees Driscoll should compile "should include relevant supervisory personnel in FBI regional offices and field divisions, as well as at FBI headquarters."
"For each employee included in the list, provide the current title, office to which the person is assigned, role in the investigation or prosecution, and date of last activity relating to the investigation or prosecution," Bove directed. "Upon timely receipt of the requested information, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General will commence a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary."
Fox News also obtained the letter Driscoll sent to bureau employees Friday evening after receiving Bove’s memo. In it, Driscoll notified employees he was directed to fire the specific employees Bove identified "unless these employees have retired beforehand."
"I have been personally in touch with each of these impacted employees," Driscoll wrote.
As for the directive to compile a list of FBI employees involved in the Jan. 6 and Hamas cases, Driscoll said that request "encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts."
"I am one of those employees, as is acting Deputy Director Kissane," Driscoll wrote. "As we’ve said since the moment we agreed to take on these roles, we are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do what’s in the best interest of the workforce and the American people — always.
"We will be back in touch with more information as soon as we can. In the meantime, stay safe, and take care of each other."
The FBI declined to comment on any personnel matters, including names, titles or numbers.
The DOJ directive comes after Acting Attorney General James McHenry earlier this week fired more than a dozen key officials who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s team prosecuting Trump. Fox News Digital exclusively reported the action Monday.
A DOJ official Monday used similar language to that seen in Bove's letter, telling Fox News Digital McHenry "does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the president’s agenda."
The directive also comes a day after Fox News Digital exclusively reported that whistleblower emails were shared with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, revealing that a former FBI agent, Timothy Thibault, allegedly broke protocol and played a critical role in opening and advancing the bureau’s original investigation related to the 2020 election, tying President Donald Trump to the probe without sufficient predication.
Bove's memo also comes a day after President Trump's nominee to lead the bureau, Kash Patel, testified during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump and allies have maintained the law enforcement agency was weaponized against him and conservatives across the nation.
The House Judiciary Committee, for months, investigated the FBI for the creation of a memo targeting Catholics and parents at school board meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Trump on Friday evening denied any involvement in the DOJ directive.
"We have some very bad people over there," Trump said Friday. "They came after a lot of people like me, but they came after a lot of people. No, I wasn't involved in that.
"I'll have to see what is exactly going on after this is finished," he added. "But if they fired some people over there, that's a good thing, because they were very bad. They were very corrupt people, very corrupt, and they hurt our country very badly with the weaponization. They used, they used the Justice Department to go after their political opponent, which in itself is illegal. And obviously it didn't work."
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's pick for FBI director, claimed Thursday that he won't stand for federal law enforcement needing a warrant for surveillance in some scenarios because it's plainly impractical in real-time practices. Despite lawmakers’ surprise at his opposition, legal experts say his take is far from unusual within the law enforcement arena.
Patel was peppered with questions Thursday on a provision called Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. When asked if he believed that a warrant requirement is "practical and workable or even a necessary element of 702," Patel said he had issues with "those that have been in government service and abused it in the past." Patel said that because of the viability of abuse, "we must work with Congress to provide the protections necessary for American citizens dealing with these matters."
"Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizenry," Patel said during his Senate hearing. "I'm all open to working with Congress on finding a better way forward. But right now, these improvements that you've made go a long way."
4 OF THE BIGGEST CLASHES BETWEEN PATEL, SENATE DEMS AT HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING
"The fact that the soon-to-be head of the nation's, sort of, top law enforcement agency takes the position that is favored by law enforcement shouldn't surprise anybody," former assistant district attorney and criminal defense attorney Phil Holloway told Fox News Digital.
"When Mr. Patel answered the question the way that he did, that answer is adverse to the public positions taken by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle."
Patel, throughout his testimony, emphasized his interest in working with Congress if he were to head the FBI.
"Some lawmakers have absolutely called for the necessity of a warrant in these situations. And so it makes sense that the senators would ask the nominee to run the FBI whether or not he has an opinion on it," Holloway continued. "But, ultimately, it's not his call."
KASH PATEL HAMMERS ‘GROTESQUE MISCHARACTERIZATIONS’ FROM DEMS AMID FIERY FBI CONFIRMATION HEARING
"I've always thought that there's a middle ground here where you don't have to. And I think there are some situations that warrant a warrant and deserve a warrantless search," Palm Beach County, Fla., state attorney Dave Aronberg told Fox News Digital. "And I think Patel's remarks show that he thinks the same way."
Aronberg noted that under U.S. law, there is a warrant exception under exigent circumstances, i.e. emergency situations, where it is impractical to obtain a warrant.
"What Kash Patel is saying is that there may be some situations that may be in that gray area where you shouldn't have to get a warrant," Aronberg said. "And I am encouraged by his comments because I do think that law enforcement needs flexibility when it comes to national security matters, especially with the very real threat of terrorism here on our shores."
KASH PATEL FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM SENATOR AFTER BEING GRILLED ON J6 PARDONS: 'BRUTAL REALITY CHECK'
Congress voted to pass a renewal of FISA's Section 702 last April. The legislation serves as a governmental tool in gathering intelligence on foreign subjects using the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers.
If the renewal had not been passed, the expiration would have meant companies would not be forced to comply with the government's requests for surveillance aid under the bill.
Without the FISA section's reauthorization, the government would be required to seek a warrant to compel any such assistance, which is a process that can span extended periods of time.
Earlier this month, a federal district court ruled that the federal government had violated the Fourth Amendment when it searched the communications of an Albanian citizen residing in the U.S. at the time of his arrest without a warrant. The information had been collected under FISA's Section 702.
"The individual rights of people in the United States under our Constitution come first," Holloway said. "So having constitutional requirements that sort of frustrate or perhaps slow down law enforcement, this is a tension that is not new at all. And so what we're seeing is this playing out."
Fox News Digital's Liz Elkind and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: The FBI is on the ground working alongside agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other law enforcement bodies conducting a nationwide crackdown on criminal aliens ordered by President Donald Trump, photos obtained by Fox News Digital reveal.
"I've talked to every single one of our special agents in charge of all 55 of our divisions," acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll told Fox News Digital on Thursday. "I know that every single one of them has reached out to their DHS counterparts to offer assistance and support. So we here at the FBI are really leaning forward to assist DHS the best that we can, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder."
The FBI's presence bolsters Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and other partner agencies with the bureau's vast resources, including tactical teams and its intelligence network.
VP VANCE DOUBLES DOWN ON WHITE HOUSE GOAL TO GET CRIMINAL MIGRANTS OFF THE STREETS
Those resources worked alongside DHS agents in New York City earlier this week, helping identify and capture dozens of "the worst of the worst" suspects, including a 25-year-old suspected Tren de Aragua gang member.
He is believed to have been involved in a violent incident in Colorado before police found him Monday in a Bronx apartment across the street from a school.
And they extend across the country.
In El Paso, Texas, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, ICE and agents from its Enforcement Removal Operations wing were seen on the ground as part of a mission that led to the capture of a suspect accused of running a stash house for human smugglers.
CHINESE MIGRANTS FLOOD SOUTH FLORIDA VIA BOAT AS AUTHORITIES SEEK HELP WITH CUBAN SMUGGLERS
"Our best chance to protect Americans, whether it's from the threats posed by groups like ISIS or in our efforts to dismantle groups like Tren de Aragua, the best way to do that is to put our heads together, our tools together, our efforts together with DHS, but also with all of our United States intelligence community and law enforcement partners around the country," Driscoll said.
In a series of targeted raids in Chicago, the FBI provided not just intelligence and tactical SWAT team members, but also legal experts to help round up illegal immigrants with suspected criminal ties.
In New York, they provided "advanced tactical support" and helped set up a crisis management coordination center covering the whole city.
"We are and will remain postured to support DHS the best that we can over here at the FBI," Driscoll said.
Operations across the country over the past seven days have netted roughly 5,500 suspected criminal aliens, according to figures released by ICE.
A clash on Thursday between Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Kash Patel, the nominee for FBI director, set social media ablaze when conservatives ripped into the new California senator after what they saw as a win for the Trump nominee.
Schiff, in his line of questioning at Patel’s confirmation hearing, began by asking Patel whether he stood by prior testimony that he had nothing to do with the recording of a song about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot inmates.
"[That] is interesting, because here's what you told Steve Bannon on his podcast: ‘So, what we thought would be cool is if we captured that audio and then, of course, had the greatest president, President Donald J. Trump, recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we went to a studio and recorded it, mastered it, digitized it, and put it out as a song.'"
KASH PATEL ENRAGES ADAM SCHIFF IN CLINTONIAN BATTLE OVER THE WORD ‘WE’ AND A JANUARY 6 SONG
The two quibbled over the meaning of "we" and whether it included Patel.
"Yeah, and you’re part of that ‘we’ — right — when you say ‘we,’ that includes you, Mr. Patel," Schiff said.
"Not in every instance." Patel said, adding he had not personally participated in the recording or mastering of the single.
Schiff responded, "Well, that's new. So, when you said ‘we,' you didn't really mean you. Is that your testimony?"
"Not unless you have a new definition for the word ‘we,'" Patel said.
In Thursday’s hearing, however, Patel said he was using the word "we" appropriately, while Schiff said he had "promoted the hell out of it," referencing the inmates’ single.
"I don't know what that means, but I promoted the heck out of raising money for families in need," Patel shot back.
In another exchange, Schiff asked Patel if an FBI director promoted a song about people who sprayed pepper spray in the face of an FBI agent, "would you say they were fit to be director?"
"I am fit to be the director of the FBI," Patel said.
Supporters of the Trump administration hammered Schiff and praised Patel over the exchanges.
MAJOR CHANGES PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 AT FBI
"California’s Senator @SenAdamSchiff screams and screeches about the January 6th choir during Kash’s confirmation - and completely misses an opportunity to represent commonsense Californians," former DNI Director Richard Grenell posted on X. "We want representatives who don’t lie. Who don’t miss the big picture. Schiff is partisan and petty."
National Review contributor Pradheep Shanker said "any committee that [Sen. Mazie] Hirono, Schiff or [Sen. Sheldon] Whitehouse is on is one where Democrats completely lose all credibility."
"I honestly thought Bernie Sanders yelling at RFK Jr. about onesies was going to be the craziest thing from the hearings this week," Daily Signal columnist Tony Kinnett said. "Then I watched Adam Schiff yelling at Kash Patel for 5 minutes about song remixes. Good Lord."
"Schiff can’t be trusted to serve on committees," Judicial Watch Chairman Tom Fitton said.
Schiff argued he had won the exchange.
"Kash Patel raised money for January 6 insurrectionists who attacked law enforcement. I asked him to look those officers in the eye and tell them he was proud of what he did. He couldn't," Schiff wrote on X.
It was one of a number of fiery exchanges during the hearing. Democrats quizzed Patel about his record, including statements he had made in his book, "Government Gangsters."
Patel slammed what he described as "grotesque" attacks against him.
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"If the best attacks on me are going to be false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations, the only thing this body is doing is defeating the credibility of the men and women at the FBI," he said.
"I stood with them here in this country, in every theater of war we have. I was on the ground in service of this nation. And any accusations leveled against me that I would somehow put political bias before the Constitution are grotesquely unfair."
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