Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, ignored questions on Tuesday from reporters about the revelation that Trump’s Department of Justice spied on dozens as part of a leak investigation.

Patel walked down a hallway speaking to an aide as reporters peppered him with questions about the recent disclosure. Patel did not acknowledge the questions and did address concerns about the possible abuse of power.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report on Tuesday detailing actions undertaken by the DOJ in 2017 and 2018, when Trump was president. The department secretly got hold of phone records from two members of Congress and 43 congressional staffers as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information.

Horowitz determined that the DOJ failed to respect the separation of power between the executive and legislative branches of the government. Instead, the Trump DOJ exercised a level of superiority over what is constitutionally a coequal branch. 

According to CNN, “the inspector general did not recommend charges against anyone in their review and did not find any indication that the career prosecutors assigned to the leak investigation were motivated by politics.”

Among the staffers whose records were swept up was Patel, making his decision to remain silent a strange one, though it may explain some of his hostility toward the Justice Department and FBI.

The records were obtained as the Trump administration attempted to uncover who leaked information to reporters. The members of Congress reportedly targeted were California’s Rep. Eric Swalwell and Rep. Adam Schiff, who was recently elected to the Senate.

In 2021, President Joe Biden said it was “simply, simply wrong” for the government to seize journalists’ records and that under his leadership the DOJ would no longer do so.

If Patel ultimately becomes FBI director, he would have access to many of the agency’s investigative powers. Patel is a Trump loyalist who has used government power in multiple roles to pursue a pro-Trump agenda.

The nominee has said on multiple occasions that he favors targeting the media for reporting the truth about Trump and has endorsed taking revenge on outlets for stories that paint Trump in a negative light.

Republished with permission from Daily Kos.