Lindsey Graham defends Kash Patel in heated exchange with CBS host

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-R-S.C., had a tense exchange during a live interview with Margaret Brennan on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

Graham told Brennan he is “ready” to vote to confirm President-elect Donald Trump’s Kash Patel as FBI director and believes Patel’s confirmation hearing “will expose him as a very qualified man of the law.”

The comments came after Brennan cited former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr’s memoir about Patel.

“Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him for service at the highest levels of the world’s premier law enforcement agency,” Barr wrote in his 2022 memoir.

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Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr is seen during a press conference on December 21, 2020. CBS “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan cited Barr’s 2022 memoir while speaking with Senator Lindsey Graham on January 19, 2025. (Michael Reynolds Pool)

Graham said Barr was wrong when he wrote it and now he’s wrong about Patel. He said he sought advice on the nomination from former Rep. Trey Gowdy, who worked with Patel.

“Kash was a public defender, he was a prosecutor, he worked with Trey Gowdy on the Russia hoax,” Graham said. “So I think he has the experience. He has the president’s trust.”

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President-elect Donald Trump has named his longtime ally Kashyap “Kash” Patel, who has been a frequent and harsh critic of the FBI, to be the FBI’s next director in the new administration. (Reuters)

“I am ready to vote for him because I know him too. “You see, (you) were never asked about the Russia hoax that he uncovered,” Graham continued. “People on the right believe he was part of the solution and not the problem.”

Graham then began talking about the situation in the Middle East and its relationship to the “world stage.”

“You took me from Kash Patel to Israel,” Brennan said.

Donald Trump shakes hands with Senator Lindsey Graham after a meeting with Senate Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee offices in Washington, DC, Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“You shouldn’t worry about Kash Patel,” Graham replied when Brennan asked if Patel was “hunting journalists.”

“You should be careful to report the news fairly, which you don’t do when it comes to anything Trump-related,” Graham concluded.

The CBS host then reminded Graham that he was a guest on the show because “we wanted to listen to you” before taking a commercial break.