Richard Blumenthal
Role at the time: U.S. Senator (D-CT)
Condemned
Statement summary
Sen. Richard Blumenthal pressed Kash Patel on whether it would be illegal to send FBI agents to polling places; after Patel said "I don't know that we can't legally do it," Blumenthal said he was "dissatisfied" that Patel could not give an "unequivocal" commitment to keep the FBI out of election interference.
“Well, I'm dissatisfied that you are unable to give us an unequivocal, clear, unambiguous commitment that the FBI will be kept out of election interference.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Kash Patel clashes with Dems about possibly sending FBI agents to polling places
Confirms the Welch/James exchange and Patel’s reply, plus the related Blumenthal exchange.
Why we used this label
Blumenthal directly condemns Patel's non-answer on whether the FBI could legally send agents to polling places, explicitly saying he was 'dissatisfied' by the lack of an unequivocal commitment -- a condemnation of Patel's response relevant to the case's central question.