Tell your senators: Kash Patel cannot lead the FBI!
The petition to your senators reads:
The FBI is charged with enforcing federal law, which includes overseeing surveillance, criminal activity, terrorism, policing, and government accountability. Kash Patel’s history of conspiratorial thinking, his steadfast loyalty to Trump, and his critique of legitimate FBI investigations into the January 6 riot all indicate that Patel’s confirmation would not only undermine the FBI’s mandate but turn it upside down, so that all Americans--and especially women and gender-expansive people--would likely suffer.
From increased surveillance of people seeking reproductive health care to heightened investigations into “pro-abortion terrorism,” a made-up political term, women and gender-expansive people would be at risk of disproportionate targeting under the guise of safety, while legitimate threats could go unaddressed. Your constituents are watching, and they expect you to remain firm against unqualified extremists like Patel, who has publicly threatened to imprison Trump’s political opponents and members of the media. As your constituents, we urge you to vote no on Patel’s confirmation and make sure that he does not become our next FBI director!
Why is this important?
The FBI is already a deeply fraught organization with a history of going to great--even unconstitutional--lengths to investigate cases according to what they consider right and wrong. But what’s “right” and “wrong” in the FBI--which is part of the executive branch--gets set by the president. This influence is ESPECIALLY strong if the FBI director is in the pocket of the president, as we know Patel is with Trump.
Patel’s nomination to run for the largest federal law enforcement arm puts every one of us at risk, especially women, gender-expansive people, immigrants, people of color, and activists--all those who don’t fit into or won’t comply with Trump’s authoritarian regime.