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Attorney General Neronha joins coalition of 20 attorneys general to urge Senate to demand answers from FBI Director nominee Kash Patel on retaliation efforts

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Attorney General Peter F. Neronha today joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general in sending a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley urging the Senate to require Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, to return for further questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The request follows alarming reports of politically motivated firings at the FBI and efforts to compile a list of agents involved in investigating the January 6th Capitol riots.

“Mr. Patel must return for further questioning before the Senate votes on his confirmation,” said Attorney General Neronha. “Americans are accustomed to feeling generally safe in this country because of the hard work of the men and women at the FBI. As the President continues to prioritize his retaliation campaign over all else, Americans are paying the price. If Mr. Patel makes sweeping, politically motivated cuts at the FBI, it will leave the United States vulnerable to various public safety harms from foreign and domestic terrorism to drug cartels to white collar crime, and more. Public safety is paramount to preserving the American way of life, and gutting the FBI may put that way of life in jeopardy.”

The attorneys general assert that Patel must address recent reports of politically motivated firings at the FBI. Shortly after his confirmation hearing, the public learned that more than a dozen high-ranking FBI officials were fired, and that the FBI is developing a list of all agents and staff who worked on investigations and prosecutions related to the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021.

The letter raises additional concerns over reports of the Administration’s plans to fire at least six high-ranking career FBI officials if they do not retire, as well as reports that acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove directed FBI staff to compile a list of all staff involved in investigations and prosecutions related to the January 6th riots.

The attorneys general stress that before any confirmation vote, Mr. Patel must explain to the Senate what he plans to do with the aforementioned list of FBI agents and staff, as “[p]urging over 6,000 FBI agents and staff will have disastrous effects on public safety across the country.” Moreover, “FBI employees and staff protect America from the public safety harms that President Trump listed in his executive orders—fentanyl, the Mexican Cartels, foreign terrorist organizations, and harms to American’s pocketbooks."

Further, the letter condemns additional attacks on law enforcement by the Trump administration. In the two weeks since his inauguration, the President pardoned over 1500 rioters who killed and injured Capitol Police Officers and attempted to cut off funding for law enforcement across the country.

The coalition believes that Congress must act to protect Americans and hold the Administration accountable. And the first step towards that end is requiring Mr. Patel to answer questions about the pending FBI purge before a confirmation vote.

Joining Rhode Island in sending the letter are the attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.