Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick to run the FBI, spent his confirmation hearing Thursday attempting to distance himself from his long record of extremism—mostly by evading questions about past statements. But Patel also appears to have lied to the Judiciary committee about his fundraising for January 6 suspects accused of violence. Confronted with the fact that his congressional testimony directly contradicted his own past statements, he continued to dissemble.
An hour into last week’s hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asked Patel about his involvement in a recording featuring the so-called “J6 Prison Choir,” which intersperses audio of jailed January 6 defendants singing the national anthem with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The recording, called “Justice for All,” was often played at Trump campaign rallies.
Patel acknowledged using the recording to raise money for families of “nonviolent offenders” accused of January 6-related crimes. But when Durbin asked him who was singing on the recording, Patel seemed to play dumb. “I don’t know, senator,” he said.
“My understanding is that the performers who were this J6 Choir were the rioters who were in prison,” Durbin said.
Patel then responded with two distinct claims—both directly at odds with his own prior statements.
“I’m not aware of that sir,” Patel said. “I didn’t have anything to do with the recording.”
Patel’s past public comments show he was, in fact, well aware that the recording featured January 6 rioters. And he seemed to have had a great deal to do with it: He claimed to have produced it.
“Some of us know that…the Jan. 6 prisoners themselves sing the national anthem every night,” Patel said in a March 10, 2023, appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room show, explaining that he was releasing the clip there. “What we thought would be cool is if we captured that audio, and of course had the greatest president, President Donald J. Trump, recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we went to a studio and recorded it, mastered it and digitized it, and put it out as song, now releasing exclusively on War Room.”
Patel indicated elsewhere that he knew the song featured alleged January 6 attackers. In a March 10, 2023, post on Trump’s Truth Social promoting the recording, Patel said the choir was composed of “individuals who have been incarcerated as a result of their involvement in the January 6, 2021 protest for election integrity.”
Later during Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked Patel about the other key claim Patel made in response to Durbin’s question—his assertion that he “didn’t have anything do with the recording.” Patel attempted to narrow that denial, telling Schiff, “What I said was, I didn’t do the recording.” That’s not what he said.
Schiff reminded Patel that he’d previously boasted to Bannon of having played a key roll in the recording and musical production, using the word “we.” Patel responded by challenging the “definition for the word we.” By “we,” Patel said, he did not mean “I.”
“So you were lying to Steve Bannon and his audience?” Schiff asked.
“No,” Patel said. “I was using the proverbial we.”
“What we thought would be cool is if we captured that audio, and of course had the greatest president, President Donald J. Trump, recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we went to a studio and recorded it, mastered it and digitized it, and put it out as song…”
This semantic quibble has no bearing on the fact that Patel ‘s statements to Durbin were apparently false. Patel’s own words make clear that, at the very least, he was involved in producing the song, that he “exclusively” released it on a broadcast with Bannon, and that he promoted it.
In a follow-up exchange, Durbin expressed skepticism about Patel’s efforts to downplay his connection to the recording. “It’s going to be difficult to understand how you can disperse the money and have nothing to do with the recording,” Durbin noted.
Patel and a spokeswoman working for him did not respond to questions about the veracity of his claims.
Patel made other dubious claims during the hearing. He claimed not to know that members of J6 Choir were accused of attacking police officers, though that information was publicly available, including in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report, released last month, which noted that choir members were “January 6 defendants who, because of their dangerousness, are detained at the District of Columbia jail.
Just Security reported shortly after the March 2023 release of the choir’s recording that among 20 January 6 inmates held in the DC jail at the time, 17 were “accused of assaulting law enforcement officers” during the attack. The choir, according to Smith, included Julian Khater, a New Jersey man who pleaded guilty in 2022 to spraying three police officers defending the Capitol with pepper spray on January 6. One of the officers, Brian Sicknick, died the next day. Asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal about Khater and other violent choir members, Patel said he didn’t know who they were.
Patel also said that a nonprofit he set up used proceeds from the recording only for the families of nonviolent January 6 offenders. The organization’s IRS filing for 2023, when it distributed funds raised from the recording, says it gave $167,821 to 50 recipients, but it does not specify amounts or name specific people who received money. Patel and his spokesperson did not respond to requests to list the recipients. (Patel also used the nonprofit “to promote his media appearances, hawk his books and sell T-shirts with his name on them,” the New York Times reported last week.)
Republicans on the committee do not appear concerned by Patel’s apparent falsehoods. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and other Republicans on the panel used their questions to defend Patel and to fault Democrats for questioning Patel about his past statements. A Grassley spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
The FBI director’s honesty is always important, but senators are currently relying on Patel’s assurances that he will not help Trump carry out political reprisals.
Trump has fired DOJ prosecutors who worked for Smith. Trump’s acting US attorney for Washington, DC, Ed Martin, on Friday announced the firing of 30 other federal prosecutors who worked on Capitol riot cases. Also on Friday, the acting deputy attorney general, former Trump lawyer Emil Bove, demanded FBI leaders produce a list of hundreds of rank-and-file agents who worked on January 6 cases, in what appears to be part of a planned purge.
Patel pledged during the hearing that if he’s confirmed, “all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.” That’s what senators wanted to hear. The problem is, they have no reason to believe him.
