Via Scott MacFarlane:
Sen Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) letter to chair of Senate Judiciary Cmte, which is poised to vote on confirmation of #KashPatel:
“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”
![Dear Chairman Grassley:
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 5A privilege against self-incrimination…
We believe Patel is at liberty to disclose his testimony. ..but Mr. Patel has refused to do so despite telling Senator Booker that he "would love for [his] grand jury testimony to be released." Subsequent to his confirmation testimony, he submitted responses in writing to questions, in which he stated, under oath, that he cannot discuss his testimony because it "is subject to a seal order."' We are unaware of any such order in this case .,We do not believe, nor has Mr. Patel provided any evidence, that such an order exists. This raises the grave prospect that the nominee is misleading members of the Committee by falsely hiding behind a nonexistent or inapplicable seal order.*
Mr. Patel's insistence on withholding this information is even more concerning because, when summoned before the grand jury, he initially invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Under well-established Supreme Court precedent, to invoke this privilege…](/proxy/post_attachment/1464618/c4f0699929.png "Dear Chairman Grassley:
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 5A privilege against self-incrimination…
We believe Patel is at liberty to disclose his testimony. ..but Mr. Patel has refused to do so despite telling Senator Booker that he \"would love for [his] grand jury testimony to be released.\" Subsequent to his confirmation testimony, he submitted responses in writing to questions, in which he stated, under oath, that he cannot discuss his testimony because it \"is subject to a seal order.\"' We are unaware of any such order in this case .,We do not believe, nor has Mr. Patel provided any evidence, that such an order exists. This raises the grave prospect that the nominee is misleading members of the Committee by falsely hiding behind a nonexistent or inapplicable seal order.*
Mr. Patel's insistence on withholding this information is even more concerning because, when summoned before the grand jury, he initially invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Under well-established Supreme Court precedent, to invoke this privilege…")