Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to begin where my wonderful friend and colleague Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island ended in opposing the nomination of Kash Patel to be Director of the FBI. I served as a U.S. attorney as well, and I know firsthand what an investigation and a prosecution can do to an individual's life even without a conviction. I used to tell my staff that the most important thing we decide to do is to start an investigation or bring charges because that person will be under a magnifying glass, having to defend himself even if no charges are brought and to defend himself even if there is no conviction, and the charges themselves can do irreparable harm to a person's reputation, his finances, his family, his life. We entrust these positions, investigative and prosecutorial, to people who deserve the credibility and reliance that we give them. So the position of Director of the FBI or Attorney General of the United States or prosecutors and investigators who work for them are not ordinary positions. Even potentially in certain situations, they are more powerful than a member of the U.S. Cabinet in the impact they can have on individual lives. For the ordinary nominee, any of the defects in character or experience or performance in past jobs would have been disqualifying. We live in a time that is not ordinary, and this nominee is not normal.…”