Hugo Lowell

Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick to be the next FBI director, distances himself from criticism relating to the January 6 Capitol attack under questioning from Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee.

Patel says he has always rejected violence against law enforcement officers, including on January 6, and that he did not agree with any commutations for people who attacked police.

“I have repeatedly, often publicly and privately, said there can never be a tolerance for violence against law enforcement,” Patel said.

But he sidestepped entirely Durbin’s question about whether he thought Donald Trump made the country safer by pardoning 1,600 January 6 rioters, including many who were convicted of assault against law enforcement.

And he distanced himself from his involvement in the jailhouse recording of the so-called “January 6 choir” singing the national anthem that was repeatedly played at Trump rallies during the election campaign.

Multiple members of the choir had been in custody specifically for violently attacking police during the riot.

David Smith

I’m in a crowded White House press briefing room where Donald Trump is expected to hold a briefing at 11am about last night’s plane crash at Reagan Washington National airport.

A presidential seal has been added to the briefing room lectern and there are two flags on the podium.

Joe Biden made only one appearance here during his four years in office, whereas Trump regularly held briefings during the Covid-19 pandemic, most notoriously when he speculated on the merits of bleach as a cure.

It’s the first test of Trump’s second term in the role of consoler-in-chief, one that Ronald Reagan played after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Bill Clinton often performed with aplomb and Biden delivered with characteristic empathy. What could go wrong?

Hugo Lowell

Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, notes that Kash Patel has complained that he was hamstrung by bad-faith actors at every position he has held – including in the first Trump White House, at the justice department and at the defense department.

Durbin says that this is conspiratorial thinking and that he “does not meet the standard” to lead the FBI.

Andrew Roth

Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat and the vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said that he “continues to have significant concerns about [Tulsi] Gabbard’s qualifications”.

Warner, one of Gabbard’s most vocal critics, has said that Gabbard’s public questioning of Syria’s use of chemical weapons and her position that Russia was provoked into launching its invasion of Ukraine “raises serious questions about your judgment”.

“It also leads me to question whether you can develop the trust necessary to give our allies confidence that they can share their most sensitive intelligence,” he said.

Make no mistake about if they stop sharing that intelligence, the United States will be less safe.

He said that intelligence sharing between the United States and Australia helped prevent a terrorist attack at a Taylor Swift concert.

Warner also attacked Gabbard for her support of the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked files from the intelligence agency and then fled to Russia, where he has remained a fugitive since 2013.

Her support for Snowden gave him “serious concerns about confirming” Gabbard.

He also attacked her for her opposition FISA Section 702, a law that gives the US sweeping powers to collect intelligence of non-Americans outside the United States.

Andrew Roth

Tom Cotton, the Republican chair of the Senate intelligence committee and a vocal supporter of Tulsi Gabbard, begins by telling a packed room that the nomination has “generated a bit more interest and attention than do most nominees before this committee”.

But I want to stress Miss Gabbard has been and will be treated with the exact same respect, consideration and professionalism that were extended to every nominee, no more, no less, no better, no worse.

Cotton said that Gabbard had undergone five FBI background checks and that he had spent two hours reviewing the report, which comes to 300 pages. “It’s clean as a whistle,” he said.

He also defended Gabbard’s military record and loyalty to the US, saying he was “dismayed” by attacks against Gabbard, saying that Hillary Clinton had “smeared” her by calling her an “asset of a foreign nation”.

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Senate confirmation hearing to become America’s top health official has also started at the health committee.

The independent senator Bernie Sanders, who on Wednesday confronted Kennedy over anti-vaccine merchandise sold by his former organization Children’s Health Defense, is expected to continue probing the nominee’s controversial vaccine statements that have drawn fierce opposition from the medical community.

Kennedy’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has sparked unprecedented pushback, with more than 15,000 medical professionals and 75 Nobel laureates mobilizing against his confirmation.

Tulsi Gabbard hearing begins for intelligence chief

Andrew Roth

Tulsi Gabbard has arrived at the Dirksen Senate building for a confirmation hearing as director of national intelligence that is expected to be one of the most contested of the early Trump administration.

She was accompanied by her family, as well as supporters including the recently confirmed attorney general, Pam Bondi.

Supporters began to chant “USA! USA! USA!” before the hearing began.