Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has been meeting with President-elect Donald Trumpâs nominees and says he is open to voting for them.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said that Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trumpâs nominee to lead the FBI, pledged during an off-record meeting that he wouldnât pursue prosecutions against the incoming presidentâs political opponents.
âHe absolutely [said] thatâs never going to happen,â Fetterman said during a Dec. 22 appearance on ABCâs âThis Week.â
âHeâs not going to use the FBI to go after Trumpâs enemies?â anchor Jonathan Karl asked.
âThatâs what he claims,â Fetterman said, though he indicated he wasnât fully ready to agree.
Otherwise, the senator gave sparse details about his meeting with Patel, whoâs seen as one of the more controversial Trump appointments. Patel will replace outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray if heâs confirmed by the Senate.
In past interviews and in his book âGovernment Gangsters,â Patel has suggested that establishment figures, federal bureaucrats, and intelligence officials should face investigation or prosecution for crimes that historically have been overlooked or unprosecuted. Heâs also extended that to members of the media in some comments.
Many Democrats have taken these past comments as a sign that Patel would use the FBI post to prosecute Trumpâs political opponents.
Thus, for most Senate Democrats, Patel is expected to be an automatic no vote.
In addition, several Republican senatorsâincluding outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and othersâhave yet to commit to backing Patel.
But Fetterman, who has increasingly distanced himself from his partyâs progressive flank, suggested heâs open to considering all of Trumpâs nominees. Fetterman has been holding meetings with several of the president-electâs most controversial selections, including Patel and Department of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth.
Fetterman said that during his meeting with Patel, the two discussed Patelâs family origin story and Patelâs background in the law.
âI have met with all of [Trumpâs nominees] so far, and the ones that we havenât are on the schedule in January,â Fetterman said, adding that he was unfazed by criticism from others within his party.
âMy commitment … is that Iâm going to sit down and have a conversation. The president picked these peopleâtheyâre not going to be my first choice, second choice, third choice. But thatâs democracy.
âThereâs going to be some that I will vote yes, and thereâs some, maybe, that I’ll vote no, but nobody can accuse me of [having] a closed mind, or [of saying] no because Trump picked this person, or whatever.â
Another question mark hangs over how Sen.-elect John Curtis (R-Utah) will vote on Patelâs nomination.
Curtis has made clear on the campaign trail that heâs willing to vote against Trump in the Senate. He also indicated he’ll subject nominees to thorough investigation before deciding on how to vote. He said he met with Patel and that the two discussed politically motivated prosecutions.
âFor me, one of the most important things that I needed to hear from Kash is that he would be blind to political affiliation … and it was important to me that he goes after bad guys,â Curtis said.
âI donât care if theyâre Republicans or Democrats … and I want to make sure that he would be blind to that.â
He didnât say whether the meeting had answered those questions for him.
A spokesperson for Patel didnât return a request for comment on the issue.
Curtis and Fetterman both said they would need to see how Hegsethâs confirmation process plays out.
Fetterman: âWe Could Work Togetherâ
Being willing to even consider Trumpâs more controversial selections sets Fetterman as a potential partner to the president-elect in the upcoming Congress.
Asked what his message to Trump is following the president-electâs victory, Fetterman said: âWell, congratulations, and … I would like to think we could work together, and some things weâre going to disagree.â
âI try … to remember that we have to find as many wins in the middle of an incredibly divisive time [as possible].â
Itâs unclear what that would look like in practice, but both men align with broadly populist ideas. It could mean Fetterman will be open to breaking from his party on key nominations.
In the next Congress, Republicans will have a 53 seat majority in the Senate, meaning they can spare no more than three defections on votes. But Fettermanâs vote could provide some wiggle room, allowing Republicans to absorb potential defections from swing voters such as Cornyn, Murkowski, and Collins.
Fetterman resisted efforts by Vice President Kamala Harrisâs presidential campaign and some in the media to label Trump a âfascist.â
âThatâs her prerogative, but itâs not a word that I would use, because a lot of Democrats, especially in my state, that I know and I happen to love … [voted] for Trump, and they are not fascists,â Fetterman said.
Fetterman said he hasnât yet spoken with Trump since his victory, but his openness to working with Republicans means the two are likely to speak extensively over the next four years.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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