Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to select Kash Patel to head the FBI was based on his objective to reform the institution.
Guest Hots Kasie Hunt said, “I do want to start with the news out of Mar-a-Lago overnight and that was Donald Trump’s announcement that he intends to nominate Kash Patel to be his FBI director. Do you have any reservations about Kash Patel serving in that role?”
Lawler said, “No. Donald Trump campaigned on reforming the FBI and the Department of Justice. So I don’t know why any of this is frankly surprising to people. President Trump has nominated in Kash Patel someone who served as chief of staff at the Department of Defense, someone who served as Deputy Director of the NSC, someone who served as a senior staffer on the House Intelligence Committee. He was a federal prosecutor under the Obama administration. And so certainly has requisite experience for this role. I think there’s no question President Trump made very clear that the Department of Justice and the FBI would be reformed if he was elected to a second term. I think, obviously, with the selection of Pam Bondi and Kash Patel that’s exactly what he’s going to do.”
Hunt said, “Do you have any reservations about Patel potentially going after President-elect Trump’s political enemies? Patel has a list of names in his book.”
Lawler said, “Look, I don’t think the American people are interested in a revenge tour. But obviously, if people did wrong in their official capacities then that’s something they should be concerned about. But if they didn’t do anything wrong, if they upheld the law, then there shouldn’t be a problem. The objective here, obviously, is to reform the Department of Justice and the FBI and get it back to its mission of going after criminals.”
He added, “Obviously in recent years, we’ve seen the FBI and the Department of Justice weaponized in a way that it has become completely political. That’s not good for the American people. It’s not good for our system of justice. The lack of confidence that Americans have in the Department of Justice and the FBI is terrible. So obviously, we want a system that is reformed that works for the American people and that prosecutes criminals.”
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