WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an oversight hearing today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had a fiery exchange with Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), about the FBI and the Trump Administration’s election interference efforts ahead of the midterm elections.
“It is the American people—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents — who have to be deciders of who their representatives in Congress are. Not the President of the United States. Not an FBI director—a compliant, servile FBI director—who does the will of the president,” said Senator Welch.
Watch the exchange between Senator Welch and FBI Director Patel:
Read more from the hearing below:
Sen. Welch: “Here’s the concern, Director Patel. You’ve been more than willing to use the FBI’s limited resources to investigate President Trump’s personal grievances over previous elections. [James Comey] and [John Brennan] for the 2016 election and Russia’s involvement. Georgia election officials for 2020. My concern is [what] this means you are willing to do for the president in this year’s midterm elections, [which] the president is already saying are going to be rigged if he loses. Last year, during the president’s State of the Union, President Trump referred to Democrats and said—this is public, at the State of the Union—the ‘only way they can get elected is to cheat.’ Do you agree with President Trump’s statement?”
Director Patel: “The information you’re discussing involves ongoing investigations, I’m not going to comment.”
Sen. Welch: “No, I’m asking you about his assertion that in this upcoming election that the only way Democrats can win is if they cheat. Do you agree with the president?”
Director Patel: “Based upon the Russia-gate hoax, and everything else that’s happened, the president is completely justified in making his opinions known as does any president before him.”
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Sen. Welch: “This is existential. You told Mr. Blumenthal that you weren’t sending FBI agents to election sites. According to [Michigan gubernatorial candidate John James] you said the FBI is on the way. This is about whether the United States Citizens—Republicans, Democrats, Independents—are the deciders of this election. Or, there’s election interference led by the FBI in the Trump Administration. That’s what this is about. Do you pledge that you will not, in any way, interfere in the will of the American people when they go to the polls in November?”
Director Patel: “I pledge, unequivocally, that I will not participate in your charade of lies.”
Sen. Welch: “Then why are you being such a panderer to President Trump, who’s still claiming that he won the 2020 election, and who has said the only way Democrats can win in 2026 is if they cheat. Do you believe that?”
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The Senate Judiciary Committee has oversight jurisdiction of the FBI.
Senator Welch voted against Director Patel’s nomination and was a staunch opponent of Patel’s appointment to serve as Director of the FBI. During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding Director Patel’s nomination in January 2025, the Senator grilled Patel about his refusal to acknowledge that President Biden won the 2020 Presidential Election. Senator Welch also spoke on the Senate Floor to emphasize Patel’s willingness to enable President Trump’s reckless illegality and destruction of democratic institutions.
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