‘Not Off the Top of My Head’: Kash Patel Says He Doesn’t Know Prominent Anti-Semite — Whose Podcast He’s Been On 8 Times
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) grilled Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, about some of his past associations with “extremist figures,” one of whom Patel claimed not to be familiar with despite eight different appearances on his podcast.
“Mr. Patel, you frequently associated with and sometimes praised extremist figures with well-documented histories of racism, anti-Semitism, conspiracies and the like,” Durbin began, adding:
In September of 2023, you appeared with Laura Loomer at an event promoting your book. This one here. You shared a photo of yourself and Loomer in which you held her book and she held yours. Just a few months before this event, Miss Loomer posted on X that the September 11th terrorist attacks were, quote, an inside job.
Around that time, she accused Florida’s first lady, Casey DeSantis, of exaggerating her cancer diagnosis to gain voters’ sympathy. A number of my Republican colleagues on this committee have criticized Miss Loomer’s extremism. One of my colleagues described her as a, quote, ‘Crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage.’ Another called her ‘really toxic.’ Giving all this. Why did you associate with Miss Loomer?
“As you can see, I took a photograph with an individual who showed up at a book event. I don’t believe I’m guilty by association, and I certainly don’t believe that individual who was the first minority to serve as a deputy director of national intelligence for this country is a racist in any way. And I detest any conjecture to the contrary,” Patel hit back.
“You familiar with a Stew Peters? Does that name ring a bell?” Durbin followed up.
“I’m sorry?” Patel waivered.
“Are you familiar with Mr. Stew Peters?” Durbin asked again.
“Not off the top of my head,” Patel replied.
“You made eight separate appearances on his podcast. He promoted outrageous conspiracy theories and worked with a prominent neo-Nazi. There they’re more. Ted Nugent, it goes on, the list goes on. I’m just asking, when it comes to your association with individuals. Why are so many of them in this category?” pressed Durbin, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.
“My association, as you loosely define it, is by appearing in media over a thousand times to take on people who are putting on conspiratorial theories and to devour them of their false impressions and to talk to them about the truth. That is something that I will always continue to fight for,” Patel replied.
Peters has long been a highly controversial figure on the far-right in U.S. politics. The Anti-Defamation League refers to Peters as a “conspiracy theorist, radio show host, Christian nationalist and prolific antisemite.”
“Peters rose from obscurity to national prominence in 2022, thanks in large part to the success of several conspiratorial documentaries he released that year, most notably the anti-vaccine film “Died Suddenly.” Since then, Peters has emerged as one of the most influential right-wing conspiracy theorists in the United States, gaining public notoriety for his hate-filled tirades and repeated calls for various public figures to be tried for “treason” and executed,” adds the ADL’s Center for Extremism in its write up on Peters.
Watch the clip above via Fox News.
