SCOTT: America Has Lost Faith in the FBI. Kash Patel Is the Right Pick to Fix That.

I have noticed a shocking trend in my conversations with families in my state and across the nation. For the past year, at almost every event I attended and when running into folks at restaurants, outside my offices and around the state, I asked a simple question, “Do you trust that the FBI and the federal government are doing the right thing, acting in your best interests, and giving you useful information?”

Nearly every person said “NO!” I would bet I asked this question to more than 1,000 people over the past year—Republicans, Democrats, independents—and overwhelmingly they said they don’t trust the FBI and our federal government.

It’s clear that the American people expect major change in Washington. That’s why they elected President Donald Trump in November and why we must quickly confirm Kash Patel to be FBI director to restore trust in such a critical arm of our government.

After four years of President Joe Biden’s failed administration and weaponization of government, Americans’ perception of the FBI is at its worst in a century. Accountability within the FBI has given way to a bureaucratic black hole of information. Even as a United States senator, I can’t seem to get simple answers from them.

It’s obvious the FBI’s focus on law enforcement has been clouded by political influence and partisanship, prioritizing Biden’s personal agenda over the agency’s true mission. Americans have seen the FBI conduct unlawful surveillance of a U.S. citizen affiliated with Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, open domestic terrorism probes against concerned parents appearing at school board meetings, and target devout Catholics as violent extremists based upon the mere exercise of their faith. 

Then last summer, within a period of weeks, a dangerous individual attempted to take the life of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another would-be assassin attempted to take his life on his own golf course in my home state of Florida.

Neither of those should have happened—and the American people had a lot of questions on exactly how there was such a massive failure from the agencies tasked with keeping him safe. They were looking to the FBI for answers and honesty, and the FBI didn’t deliver.

Now, the FBI is facing a public trust crisis. Let me be clear: This has absolutely nothing to do with the actual agents in the FBI. There are incredible, hardworking agents in the FBI who want to make our nation a better place. This is a leadership problem. Trust will rebuild with the right leader, and Patel is that person.

Patel has the track record and experience to enact much-needed reform, transparency, and accountability the FBI needs to refocus the agency’s mission and to restore the public’s trust. He is a highly respected leader and fully qualified nominee, and a recipient of a Department of Justice award for his work investigating and prosecuting terrorists responsible for the 2010 World Cup bombings. He is a co-author of the Nunes Memo that exposed the FBI’s unlawful surveillance against a U.S. citizen and a career of public service and law that’s earned him endorsements from the National Police Association and the National Sheriffs’ Association.

Patel brings a mix of traditional criminal justice experience and outside perspective that enables him to see very clearly where and how the FBI has strayed from its mission—and to get the agency back on track.

While his qualifications alone show he will be a great FBI director, I also took the time to sit down with Patel following his nomination to discuss how he’ll bring transparency, integrity, and accountability to the FBI, always working on behalf of American citizens, instead of attacking them.

My takeaway was this: Patel is an agent for change and justice—he has my trust to lead the FBI, and will earn the trust of the American people.

Together with Trump and future Attorney General Pam Bondi at the Justice Department, Patel will take the right steps to refocus the FBI as the nation’s top law enforcement agency and keep our country safe.

Patel has my full support to lead the FBI, and I’m doing everything I can to fight against Democrats’ obstruction and make sure he is quickly confirmed.