On Monday, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois (D) spread an anonymous smear against Kash Patel, the nominee for Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Durbin wrote to Trump administration officials on January 27, 2025 that he had received “highly credible information” that Patel broke protocol regarding hostage-rescues by commenting to the Wall Street Journal in October 2020 “without authorization”.

Durbin said that the rescue of the two Americans, who were being held hostage by Iranian-backed Houthi militants, was still underway when Patel made his comments to the newspaper. Durbin said that Patel’s comments were published by the WSJ at 10:55 a.m. ET, several hour before the U.S. confirmed that the hostages had been taken into custody.

The WSJ reported the two Americans had been freed, and that a Royal Oman Air Force aircraft carrying them along with the remains of a threerd “flew away from Yemen’s Houthi controlled capital of Sana’a hours after the jet brought back more than 200 Houthi supporters to Yemen.” Not just Patel, but also U.S. officials and Saudi officials were quoted by the paper.

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According to the report, Patel — who was then Donald Trump’s deputy assistant and director of counterterrorism for the White House National Security Council at the time — worked on this deal. He is quoted as saying:

We had teams in both places [Yemen, Oman] that were responsible for ensuring that the Saudis knew that lethal aid and terrorists weren’t being sent back.

Durbin stated that his office had received allegations stating “Mr. Patel violated protocol and inserted himself in an inappropriate way in a mission to recover hostages. He also allegedly “had no role in planning, negotiating, or executing this hostage-recovery.”

Alex Gray, former chief of staff to Trump National Security Council Alex Gray, called the anonymous accusations against Patel “baseless.”

Gray made a statement.

Anyone who has worked with Kash patel knows that the anonymous claims in this letter are absurd. Kash always put the American people’s interests first, especially those of American hostages, unlawful detainees, and their families. Kash’s professionalism and skill were a major factor in the success that President Trump and the NSC achieved on counter-terrorism and hostage recovery operations.

These anonymous, baseless allegations contradict every interaction the Robert O’Brien led NSC leadership has had with Kash Patel, and represent the last gasp from discredited political enemies of President Trump. Kash Patel, the best National Security professional to ever be nominated as the FBI’s leader, is an outstanding example of his qualifications. His success at the NSC also speaks for itself.

Durbin, who is a member the Senate Judiciary Committee that will be holding Patel’s confirmation, has requested information about hostage recovery protocols. He also asked for records of communications between Patel, the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell and interagency cables, memos and memoranda concerning the rescue and any records related to Patel being authorized to reveal details of the rescue.

Durbin asked for the records “no later” than the 30th of January, the date Patel’s confirmation hearing.

However, the senator has been opposing Patel’s nomination since last week.

He wrote on X, on the 22nd of January: “I do not believe he is qualified, temperamental, or has the judgement to lead the FBI.”