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Senate Republicans have confirmed Kash Patel — a Maga conspiracy theorist sympathetic to QAnon who has signaled a thirst for retribution against Donald Trump’s political enemies — as the new FBI Director.

Patel was confirmed in a 51-49 vote Thursday afternoon, with Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joining every Senate Democrat in voting against his confirmation. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who was the only Republican senator to vote against Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy and who joined Collins and Murkowski in voting against Pete Hegseth — voted to confirm Patel.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, sat down before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to field questions from senators who may be skeptical that the far-right firebrand is qualified to lead the law enforcement agency he has frequently maligned.

Among the pool of die-hard Maga loyalists from which Trump is forming his Cabinet, Patel is a standout sycophant. The president has been attempting to elevate Patel into a high-level government position since his first administration — even over the objections of career Republican officials who warned...

Donald Trump is not yet in office, but his not-so-slow rolling train of political retaliation against his rivals has already left the station. After filing a lawsuit against an Iowa newspaper over its poll showing Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa, the president-elect has now endorsed an FBI probe into former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney over her work on the House Jan. 6 committee.

“Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble based on the evidence obtained by the subcommittee, which states that ‘numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney,...