'Dem Senators Prod Patel to Acknowledge FBI is Coordinating With White House on Personnel'

(TPM) "It’s a minor point in this moment — as the leaders of the federal government brag that they’re preparing to investigate 'the left' and journalists — but Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today got FBI Director Kash Patel to confirm a key detail about the extent to which the traditional firewall between the Department of Justice and the White House has collapsed."

"Blumenthal pressed Patel during a Senate hearing on Tuesday about the clearly politically motivated firings of FBI staff who worked on the Jan. 6 investigation, among others, earlier this year. Patel evaded answering the question at first, but eventually offered that the White House has been in touch about personnel decisions at the FBI. This, he claimed, was only a budgetary matter."

"Obviously, this isn’t exactly some smoking gun, and what Patel sneezes out under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee is inconsequential compared to the daily evidence we see of a compromised FBI and Justice Department that is doing President Trump’s bidding. But it is another factor contributing to the unprecedented moment we are in, one in which DOJ officials don’t even try to hide the ongoing erosion of the independence that once existed between the Justice Department and the White House."

"Here’s a transcript of the first part of the exchange:"

Continued at link:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/dem-senators-prod-patel-to-acknowledge-fbi-is-coordinating-with-white-house-on-personnel