BREAKING: Senate Judiciary Committee advances Kash Patel as FBI director, will face vote in closed Senate executive session

The Senate took a procedural step Tuesday toward confirming Kash Patel as FBI director, voting 48-45 along party lines to begin debate on his nomination. The final confirmation vote is expected later this week.

Republican senators have expressed strong support for Patel, 44, citing his background as a prosecutor and national security aide in the first Trump administration. They have also praised his commitment to addressing concerns about political “weaponization” within the FBI and refocusing the agency on its core law enforcement responsibilities.

During Patel’s confirmation hearings, he vowed to end the weaponization of the FBI as well as censorship coming from the agency and said, “If confirmed I will work with congress to expose any corrupt activities the FBI has participated in, especially involved in the censorship of free speech.”

He also vowed to help expose the Epstein client list during the hearing, promising to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) “I will do everything, if confirmed as FBI director, to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in” the Epstein case, and “how we are going to countermand missing children and exploited children going forward."

After Trump was elected, many in the GOP pushed him to nominate Patel for FBI Director, and when he announced the nomination, touted Patel's experience, saying, "Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and 'America First' fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution."