Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said that Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, pledged during an off-record meeting that he wouldn’t pursue prosecutions against the incoming president’s political opponents.
“He absolutely [said] that’s never going to happen,” Fetterman said during a Dec. 22 appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
“He’s not going to use the FBI to go after Trump’s enemies?” anchor Jonathan Karl asked.
“That’s what he claims,” Fetterman said, though he indicated he wasn’t fully ready to agree.
Otherwise, the senator gave sparse details about his meeting with Patel, who’s seen as one of the more controversial Trump appointments. Patel will replace outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray if he’s confirmed by the Senate.
In past interviews and in his book “Government Gangsters,” Patel has suggested that establishment figures, federal bureaucrats, and intelligence officials should face investigation or prosecution for crimes that historically have been overlooked or unprosecuted. He’s also extended that to members of the media in some comments.
Many Democrats have taken these past comments as a sign that Patel would use the FBI post to prosecute Trump’s political opponents.
Thus, for most Senate Democrats, Patel is expected to be an automatic no vote.
In addition, several Republican senators—including outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and others—have yet to commit to backing Patel.
But Fetterman, who has increasingly distanced himself from his party’s progressive flank, suggested he’s open to considering all of Trump’s nominees. Fetterman has been holding meetings with several of the president-elect’s most controversial selections, including Patel and Department of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth.
Fetterman said that during his meeting with Patel, the two discussed Patel’s family origin story and Patel’s background in the law.
“I have met with all of [Trump’s nominees] so far, and the ones that we haven’t are on the schedule in January,” Fetterman said, adding that he was unfazed by criticism from others within his party.
“My commitment ... is that I’m going to sit down and have a conversation. The president picked these people—they’re not going to be my first choice, second choice, third choice. But that’s democracy.
“There’s going to be some that I will vote yes, and there’s some, maybe, that I'll vote no, but nobody can accuse me of [having] a closed mind, or [of saying] no because Trump picked this person, or whatever.”
Another question mark hangs over how Sen.-elect John Curtis (R-Utah) will vote on Patel’s nomination.
Curtis has made clear on the campaign trail that he’s willing to vote against Trump in the Senate. He also indicated he'll subject nominees to thorough investigation before deciding on how to vote. He said he met with Patel and that the two discussed politically motivated prosecutions.
“For me, one of the most important things that I needed to hear from Kash is that he would be blind to political affiliation ... and it was important to me that he goes after bad guys,” Curtis said.
“I don’t care if they’re Republicans or Democrats ... and I want to make sure that he would be blind to that.”
He didn’t say whether the meeting had answered those questions for him.
A spokesperson for Patel didn’t return a request for comment on the issue.
Fetterman: ‘We Could Work Together’
Being willing to even consider Trump’s more controversial selections sets Fetterman as a potential partner to the president-elect in the upcoming Congress.Asked what his message to Trump is following the president-elect’s victory, Fetterman said: “Well, congratulations, and ... I would like to think we could work together, and some things we’re going to disagree.”
“I try ... to remember that we have to find as many wins in the middle of an incredibly divisive time [as possible].”
It’s unclear what that would look like in practice, but both men align with broadly populist ideas. It could mean Fetterman will be open to breaking from his party on key nominations.
In the next Congress, Republicans will have a 53 seat majority in the Senate, meaning they can spare no more than three defections on votes. But Fetterman’s vote could provide some wiggle room, allowing Republicans to absorb potential defections from swing voters such as Cornyn, Murkowski, and Collins.
Fetterman resisted efforts by Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and some in the media to label Trump a “fascist.”
“That’s her prerogative, but it’s not a word that I would use, because a lot of Democrats, especially in my state, that I know and I happen to love ... [voted] for Trump, and they are not fascists,” Fetterman said.
In the past, Fetterman has also called for Trump to be pardoned for his criminal conviction in New York. The Pennsylvania Democrat shares Republicans’ suspicions that the case was politically motivated.
Fetterman said he hasn’t yet spoken with Trump since his victory, but his openness to working with Republicans means the two are likely to speak extensively over the next four years.
