Republicans Continue to Cover Up Why Kash Patel Pled the Fifth

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Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee stalled the vote on Kash Patel’s nomination another week.

A bunch of Republicans are wailing that Democrats are afraid of something.

But it’s clear Chuck Grassley is.

A week ago, he released a bunch of documents he read in Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing. They show that DOJ first opened a grand jury to investigate the fake electors plot on January 31, 2022. But FBI delayed two months, from February 12, 2022, at which point they had a draft opening Electronic Communication, to April 13, when they finally approved it. (I’ve included those dates in this timeline.)

The documentation shows that on both the FBI and DOJ side, top executives approved the investigation, as required by DIOG.

Grassley claims blah blah blah it’s not clear what about politicization, based on his debunked claims about Tim Thibault (claims that Jim Jordan’s committee debunked).

Remember: Tim Thibault is one of the three FBI Agents who opened an investigation targeting Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation during the 2016 election cycle, based substantially on Peter Schweizer’s book. That’s the guy the right wingers have spun up as a raging lefty. That’s the guy who was involved in stalling the investigation of Trump for two months.

But the reason Chuck Grassley is sharing this is … mostly hot air, to justify Pam Bondi’s witch hunts.

And also to justify refusing to find out what Kash Patel is covering up about his 2022 grand jury testimony. Chuck Grassley appears to be using his own misrepresentations of Tim Thibault’s role in all this to refuse to support any inquiry into Kash’s grand jury testimony, apparently claiming that the entire Jack Smith investigation — both prongs of which were predicated long before he was hired — was thereby tainted. In a letter following up on that, Sheldon Whitehouse, Cory Booker, and Adam Schiff (but no one else, up to and including Dick Durbin) urge Grassley to reconsider his refusal to demand Kash’s grand jury testimony.

We write to object to Kash Patel’s continued refusal to provide members of the Senate Judiciary Committee information essential to our consideration of his nomination to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Patel has repeatedly refused to discuss the testimony he provided to a federal grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s unlawful retention of classified documents, as well as his invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. We regret that you have rejected our efforts to inquire into the first-ever invocation of Fifth Amendment protection by a nominee seeking to lead the FBI.

Democrats are trying to figure out what Kash Patel believed, in October 2022, that he had criminal exposure in an Espionage Act investigation.

And Chuck Grassley wants to use the fact that the FBI stalled the January 6 investigation into Donald Trump for two months as an excuse to refuse that.

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29 replies
  1. Boycurry says:

    Can we say for sure Volume 2 of the SC report will never been seen by either unwilling members of congress (looking at you Dick D) or the public? Or is the reason that Durban didn’t sign that letter with everyone else is because he has now read it and plans to release it?

  2. MsJennyMD says:

    Thank you Dr. Marcy for your continued commitment to keep people informed. Democrats on the hill should be reading your posts everyday. This Hatfield and McCoy feud is exhausting. Today I am distraught and discouraged.

        • Savage Librarian says:

          No worries. I was just trying to clarify the important point you were making, SB. No savage intent at all. I appreciate all your insightful and detailed comments.

      • RipNoLonger says:

        I’ll never a nit to pick with you, dear Savage Librarian.

        But can’t we all agree that the ISO standard of YYYY-MM-DD is logical, pleasing to the eye, and for us poor IT folks, easily sorted?

        I also try to use the 24hr clock (13:01) so I don’t have to remember if times are before or after the Matins (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matins)

        If we devolve back to the dark ages we won’t need to worry about years/months/weeks/days/times – just what our masters tell us to do

        • Savage Librarian says:

          But can we agree that J5 comes before J6, the historical attempted coup on the American transfer of power? J6, of course is also 1/6. So, J5 would be 1/5, an important detail in reference to what and when Grassley knew about potentially replacing Pence in the vote count.

        • SteveBev says:

          PJEvans

          Apologies again: the link has the date in Y-M-D format within it and I stupidly and thoughtlessly simply reversed that for the text.

          Mea Maxima Culpa.

          I should have J5’d it as SavageL suggests.

    • MsJennyMD says:

      “My goal for reform is not necessarily to pass laws but to make sure the laws are being followed.”
      Chuck Grassley

  4. Mark Cooper says:

    This Republican Party is absolutely a disgrace to themselves and the country. Led by a sociopathic traitor and a megalomaniacal sidekick, they bow obsequiously as the country is destroyed.

    • Benji-am-Groot says:

      Mark Cooper –

      “Led by a sociopathic traitor and a megalomaniacal sidekick, they bow obsequiously as the country is destroyed”

      Can we move that comment somehow into the world of Tolkien and tie it into ‘Nine for the Mortal Men doomed to die’ and give him credit for prescience?

      I am securing my own manageable world – I am not happy to believe it but we are in for a few rough years unless the Judicial and Legislative branches operate as intended.

  5. wetzel-rhymes-with says:

    I’ve been thinking a first big march is important if it makes later marches possible. We should march to save the FBI, in solidarity with the good men and women there. We should get out in the tens of thousands in sportcoats, bad ties and mirrored sunglasses with signs like “We love the FBI.” or “Keep the FBI on the side of the law” and “We love the cops”. For once you wouldn’t have to worry if the FBI was there investigating you or the other protestors because we’d be marching for them!

  6. bgThenNow says:

    And now the White Christian Nationalist who is the architect of P2025 is OMB. We can only hope the wheels will come off. A national abortion ban is coming.

    • MsJennyMD says:

      Yep, Republicans confirmed the white sheet, Christian nationalist architect of Project 2025. Remember Republican senators distancing themselves from Project 2025. This is the Handmaid’s Tale manifested.

    • Krisy Gosney says:

      And a repeal of Gay and Lesbian marriage is right behind the national abortion ban. Not just no more Gay and Lesbian marriage but a repeal of my marriage and all existing marriages.
      Can straight married people imagine the government setting a date for you to no longer be married to the person you’ve shared a life and home with and had and raised children with? And then that date comes and you wake up and that’s it, it’s over. And you’re going to the DMV and Social Security to change your name back. And changing your kid’s name. As well as the fear and pain of what it all means and what will come next?

      • Savage Librarian says:

        Krisy, I’m not sure how this may tie into your concerns, but there are some influential men in Trump’s sphere who are married to men. For details you may want to check their wikis or other online bios.

        Peter Thiel: married to Matt Danzeisen

        Sam Altman: married to Oliver Mulherin
        (I read that Sam wants to have children.)

        Jacob Helberg: married to Keith Rabois.
        They had a fundraiser, with J.D. Vance, for the Trump campaign. IIRC, Sam Altman officiated their wedding. Oddly, according to his wiki, Rabois praised the Florida “Don’t Say Gay” law.

        Ric Grenell: Partner is Matt Lashey.

  7. harpie says:

    NEW/More on KA$H Shady:

    https://bsky.app/profile/rushdoshi.bsky.social/post/3lhkn2llu622c
    February 6, 2025 at 10:14 PM [altered formatting]

    Disturbing ties between Kash Patel and SHEIN — a PRC company implicated in forced labor in Xinjiang. He has millions in shares and won’t divest. Especially concerning amid reports that DOJ/FBI is going to reduce focus on PRC influence efforts in the US. Full detail below from Roger Sollenberger: [screenshots]

    TLDR: Patel is reportedly
    (1) on SHEIN’s payroll,
    (2) appears to have concealed or understated these relationships,
    (3) *won’t divest while being FBI director* and
    (4) supports cutting efforts to counter PRC influence.

  8. Critter7 says:

    How nice of Senator Grassley to liberate those documents! But I can’t say nice things about the rest of it.

    Exhibit 5, as linked by Marcy’s post, asserts a clear factual basis for opening the investigation.

    Grassley’s statement takes no issue with those facts. But he seeks to tar the process by claiming Thibault’s “anti-Trump bias”, and headlining the whole thing as an “FBI Plot to Pin Trump” that is revealed by “Whistleblower Records”.

    Way to go, Chuck. I’m sure a certain someone named Donald is proud of you, and he will not mean tweet you today.

  9. zscoreUSA says:

    Have the Democrats asked any questions about Patel’s role with Hunter Biden or any quid pro quo he received in the 2016 transition?

    There have been a couple of needles in haystacks involving Hunter, and my money is on folks in the Grassley Mafia. Which includes Patel, Cohen, Ellis, Nunes, Ledeen, Flynn, Harvey, Solomon, and others known & unknown.

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