Sen. Hawley Questions Kash Patel on Biden-Era Targeting of Christians by FBI, “Will You Commit To Me…”

Kash Patel’s first day of confirmation hearings have been as cataclysmic as anyone guessed, and as promising as many of us hoped leading up to today’s hearing.

During questioning, Senator Josh Hawley took up a subject with President Trump’s pick to lead — and fix — the FBI which he has often focused on during Congressional hearings.

Sen. Hawley reminded Patel in particular of the notorious memo which directed the FBI to in fact target Christians and Christian churches based on their religious grouping.

Patel, possibly even more familiar with the circumstances of that memo than Sen. Hawley, was perfectly clear that no such mandate exists under which the FBI could or should engage in such actions.

What is more, he committed to ending the Biden-era targeting of Christians by the FBI, and vowed the full resources of the FBI to investigate those responsible for doing so and holding them accountable.

Kash Patel vows to Hawley to end Biden-era 'targeting' of Christians: 'Sacred trust' https://t.co/UEytUqi1VW

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 30, 2025

Senator Hawley asked Patel point blank if it would ever be justified for the FBI to target people of faith in order to discourage their free exercise of first amendment rights.

Kash Patel answered succinctly, precisely, and with no ambiguity.

Watch that clip here:

KASH PATEL: There can NEVER be a targeting by law enforcement based on people's religious faiths.

HAWLEY: And Biden's DOJ did that. Will you end this targeting?

PATEL: Yes. America deserves a better brand of justice and I am going to give it to them.pic.twitter.com/Fvk5ZQ2k4V

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 30, 2025

The idea that we could be on the precipice of an FBI Director who legitimately sees the guarding of American liberties as paramount and who is unwilling to circumvent those liberties in the justification of flagrant Constitutional violations against the American people is almost unbelievable after four years of Biden’s full weaponization of the federal government against Americans.

What is more, Sen. Hawley pressed Patel to commit to investigating and holding accountable those responsible for doing so, according to a report by Fox News:

Patel told Hawley that the senator has his “commitment” to “investigate any matters such as this” that “are important to Congress.”

“I will fully utilize, if confirmed, the investigative powers of the FBI to give you the information you require, and also to hold those accountable who violated the sacred trust placed in them at the FBI,” Patel told Hawley.

Hawley responded, “I’m glad to use the word sacred trust, because that’s exactly what it is. The FBI’s the most powerful law enforcement body in this nation, arguably the most powerful law enforcement body, at least in a free nation in the world and to have this body corrupted politically such that it is targeting people of faith in this country and then lying about it to this committee and the American people is unimaginable.”

“I’ll be honest with you, I never thought this would happen in the United States of America, I just didn’t. If you had told me five years ago we’d be reading memos like this, I would have said, no way, no way. That’s bad fiction. In fact, it’s a horrible reality. The department needs to be cleaned up.”

The soon-to-be Director of the FBI didn’t miss a beat when asked if he would investigate who was responsible and hold them accountable for the targeting of Christians based on religious affiliateion.

Watch that interaction here:

🚨Sen. Josh Hawley asks Kash Patel if he will uncover who at the FBI dispatched agents against parents at school board meetings:

Patel: “Absolutely.” pic.twitter.com/YwLAOzKvxh

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 30, 2025

In that clip, Sen. Hawley brought up the memo I referenced earlier.

Kash Patel confirmed that he would investigate and go after those responsible for that memo as well, to his great credit.

Here’s former FBI Director Wray, under questioning from Sen. Hawley in 2023, being exposed for giving those responsible for that memo a “get out of jail free card”, as Sen. Hawley correctly labeled Wray’s allowances on the matter.

FBI Director Wray refuses to answer if any agents were fired over an internal FBI memo labeling Catholics “extremists” pic.twitter.com/h5pp8kTDH0

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) December 5, 2023

Senator Eric Schmitt helped expose that memo which very clearly crosses Constitutional red lines in the targeting of Christians.

New document shows the FBI Richmond Field Office coordinated with other field offices to draft a memo targeting Catholics as domestic terrorists

Wray testified the actions were limited to a single field office

The Biden Admin’s unprecedented weaponization of gov’t cannot stand pic.twitter.com/IybN7MzTjw

— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) August 9, 2023

Earlier in 2023, Sen. Hawley questioned Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland about the memo.

The Attorney General stonewalled as well, feigning the same personal shock over the nature of the memo as well.

And yet, no one was held responsible or faced any repercussions that we know of, and the targeting continued on multiple fronts throughout the Biden administration’s oversight of the FBI with nothing but rubber stamp approval from Biden’s DOJ.

Here’s Merrick Garland’s testimony before Sen. Hawley, if you can handle listening to it.

Last month: @HawleyMO asked AG Garland whether the FBI was targeting Catholic parishes. AG: “Justice Dept. does not do that.”

Now: the @Weaponization Comm. uncovered evidence that the FBI issued directives and used at least one undercover agent to spy on multiple parishes. https://t.co/TYZj7dIL26 pic.twitter.com/1QT385OuZn

— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) April 11, 2023

For many of us, Patel’s nomination to lead the FBI represents a turning point in the right direction for the failed institution.

For others — Congressional democrats in particular — it represents an immediate threat to their power, and possible retribution for past actions, according to a story in The Hill:

Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, was at the center of a contentious confirmation hearing Thursday, facing intense grilling from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee about his past comments and allegiance to Trump.

To Republicans, Patel represents a chance to reform an agency whose public image has taken a hit and refocus the FBI on its crime-fighting mission.

To Democrats, Patel is an unqualified figure at risk of abusing FBI power.

Patel sought to assure the committee he would not take any illegal actions but would not commit to resigning if faced with such pressure.

“My answer is simply, I would never do anything unconstitutional or unlawful, and I never have in my 16 years of government service,” he said.

“I will always obey the law.”

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For those democrats seeking to sink Patel’s confirmation as FBI Director, that promise does little to quell fears of retribution.

In a very personal answer during questioning, Patel opened up about the fact that he was the unwitting focus of a federal FBI investigation regarding his work in the past few years pushing back against the Biden administration’s illegal overreach.

🚨Kash Patel will look out for ALL Americans:

"I know what it feels like to have the full weight of the US government barreling down on you. I will ensure that no American is subjected to that kind of torment, financially and personally."
pic.twitter.com/g5e5Ri3glL

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 30, 2025

What their hours of nefarious questions have done is simply expose the enormous threat Patel poses to an entrenched Deep State powerbase which is largely allowed to exist, and is empowered by, the auspices of America’s intelligence agencies — the FBI being at the forefront of that malignant list of cancers currently weakening America.

Time will tell if Kash Patel will be able to navigate the treacherous waters of confirmation, or wind up another victim of the old guard’s need to protect itself.