WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kashyap Pramod Vinod “Kash” Patel to be director of the FBI was advanced by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 13, setting up a final vote by the full Senate that would enable him to take office.
Patel, an attorney who served in several national security staff roles during the first Trump administration, was announced as Trump’s nominee for the post on Nov. 30, 2024. Trump had demanded that then-Director Christopher Wray, whom Trump nominated and appointed during his first term in 2017, resign from his position amid criticism from conservatives of the FBI’s investigative activities—which Wray did shortly before Trump’s inauguration. By statute, the director of the FBI serves a 10-year term, though they serve at the pleasure of the president and may be dismissed at any time….