The atmosphere was tense during Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,’s live interview with Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Graham told Brennan he was “ready to vote” to confirm President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director Kash Patel and believed that Patel’s confirmation hearing “will make him the A very qualified legal practitioner”.
Brennan’s remarks followed a quote from former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr’s memoir about Patel.
“Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest levels of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency,” Barr wrote in his 2022 memoir.
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On December 21, 2020, former US Attorney General Bill Barr attended a press conference. Margaret Brennan quoted Barr’s 2022 memoir when speaking with Senator Lindsey Graham. (Michael Reynolds Poole)
Graham said Barr was wrong when he wrote that sentence and wrong about Patel now. He said he drew advice on nominees from former Rep. Trey Gowdy, who served with Patel.
“Kash is a public defender and a prosecutor who worked with Trey Gowdy on the Russia hoax,” Graham said. “So I do think he has experience. He has the trust of the president. ”
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President-elect Donald Trump has tapped longtime ally Kashyap “Kash” Patel, a frequently harsh critic of the FBI, to be the next director of the new administration. (Reuters)
“I’m going to vote for him because I know him too. Look. [you] Graham continued: “He was never asked about the Russia hoax he exposed. People on the right believe he is part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
Graham then began talking about the situation in the Middle East and its relationship to the “world stage.”
“You took me from Kash Patel all the way to Israel,” Brennan said.
Donald Trump shakes hands with Sen. Lindsey Graham after meeting with Senate Republicans at the offices of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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When Brennan asked about Patel “hunting down reporters,” Graham responded: “You shouldn’t worry about Kash Patel.”
“You should worry about covering the news fairly, but you don’t do that when it comes to everything about Trump,” Graham concluded.
The CBS host then reminded Graham that he was a guest on the show because “we want to hear your side of the story,” before cutting to a commercial.
