The FBI and authorities in The Netherlands this week seized dozens of servers and domains for a hugely popular spam and malware dissemination service operating out of Pakistan. The proprietors of the service, who use the collective nickname “The Manipulaters,” have been the subject of three stories published here since 2015. The FBI said the main clientele are organized crime groups that try to trick victim companies into making payments to a third party.

One of several current Fudtools sites run by the principals of The Manipulators.

On January 29, the FBI and the Dutch national police seized the technical infrastructure for a cybercrime service marketed under the brands Heartsender, Fudpage and Fudtools (and many other “fud” variations). The “fud” bit stands for “Fully Un-Detectable,” and it refers to cybercrime resources that will evade detection by security tools like antivirus software or anti-spam appliances.

The Dutch authorities said 39 servers and domains abroad were seized, and that the servers contained millions of records from victims worldwide — including at least 100,000 records pertaining to Dutch citizens.

A statement from the U.S. Department of Justice refers to the cybercrime group as Saim Raza, after a pseudonym The Manipulaters communally used to promote their spam, malware and phishing services on social media.

“The Saim Raza-run websites operated as marketplaces that advertised and facilitated the sale of tools such as phishing kits, scam pages and email extractors often used to build and maintain fraud operations,” the DOJ explained.

The core Manipulaters product is Heartsender, a spam delivery service whose homepage openly advertised phishing kits targeting users of various Internet companies, including Microsoft 365, Yahoo, AOL, Intuit, iCloud and ID.me, to name a few.

The government says transnational organized crime groups that purchased these services primarily used them to run business email compromise (BEC) schemes, wherein the cybercrime actors tricked victim companies into making payments to a third party.

“Those payments would instead be redirected to a financial account the perpetrators controlled, resulting in significant losses to victims,” the DOJ wrote. “These tools were also used to acquire victim user credentials and utilize those credentials to further these fraudulent schemes. The seizure of these domains is intended to disrupt the ongoing activity of these groups and stop the proliferation of these tools within the cybercriminal community.”

Manipulaters advertisement for “Office 365 Private Page with Antibot” phishing kit sold via Heartsender. “Antibot” refers to functionality that attempts to evade automated detection techniques, keeping a phish deployed and accessible as long as possible. Image: DomainTools.

KrebsOnSecurity first wrote about The Manipulaters in May 2015, mainly because their ads at the time were blanketing a number of popular cybercrime forums, and because they were fairly open and brazen about what they were doing — even who they were in real life.

We caught up with The Manipulaters again in 2021, with a story that found the core employees had started a web coding company in Lahore called WeCodeSolutions — presumably as a way to account for their considerable Heartsender income. That piece examined how WeCodeSolutions employees had all doxed themselves on Facebook by posting pictures from company parties each year featuring a large cake with the words FudCo written in icing.

A follow-up story last year about The Manipulaters prompted messages from various WeCodeSolutions employees who pleaded with this publication to remove stories about them. The Saim Raza identity told KrebsOnSecurity they were recently released from jail after being arrested and charged by local police, although they declined to elaborate on the charges.

The Manipulaters never seemed to care much about protecting their own identities, so it’s not surprising that they were unable or unwilling to protect their own customers. In an analysis released last year, DomainTools.com found the web-hosted version of Heartsender leaked an extraordinary amount of user information to unauthenticated users, including customer credentials and email records from Heartsender employees.

Almost every year since their founding, The Manipulaters have posted a picture of a FudCo cake from a company party celebrating its anniversary.

DomainTools also uncovered evidence that the computers used by The Manipulaters were all infected with the same password-stealing malware, and that vast numbers of credentials were stolen from the group and sold online.

“Ironically, the Manipulaters may create more short-term risk to their own customers than law enforcement,” DomainTools wrote. “The data table ‘User Feedbacks’ (sic) exposes what appear to be customer authentication tokens, user identifiers, and even a customer support request that exposes root-level SMTP credentials–all visible by an unauthenticated user on a Manipulaters-controlled domain.”

Police in The Netherlands said the investigation into the owners and customers of the service is ongoing.

“The Cybercrime Team is on the trail of a number of buyers of the tools,” the Dutch national police said. “Presumably, these buyers also include Dutch nationals. The investigation into the makers and buyers of this phishing software has not yet been completed with the seizure of the servers and domains.”

U.S. authorities this week also joined law enforcement in Australia, France, Greece, Italy, Romania and Spain in seizing a number of domains for several long-running cybercrime forums and services, including Cracked and Nulled. According to a statement from the European police agency Europol, the two communities attracted more than 10 million users in total.

Other domains seized as part of “Operation Talent” included Sellix, an e-commerce platform that was frequently used by cybercrime forum members to buy and sell illicit goods and services.

Residents across the United States are being inundated with text messages purporting to come from toll road operators like E-ZPass, warning that recipients face fines if a delinquent toll fee remains unpaid. Researchers say the surge in SMS spam coincides with new features added to a popular commercial phishing kit sold in China that makes it simple to set up convincing lures spoofing toll road operators in multiple U.S. states.

Last week, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) warned residents to be on the lookout for a new SMS phishing or “smishing” scam targeting users of EZDriveMA, MassDOT’s all electronic tolling program. Those who fall for the scam are asked to provide payment card data, and eventually will be asked to supply a one-time password sent via SMS or a mobile authentication app.

Reports of similar SMS phishing attacks against customers of other U.S. state-run toll facilities surfaced around the same time as the MassDOT alert. People in Florida reported receiving SMS phishing that spoofed Sunpass, Florida’s prepaid toll program.

This phishing module for spoofing MassDOT’s EZDrive toll system was offered on Jan. 10, 2025 by a China-based SMS phishing service called “Lighthouse.”

In Texas, residents said they received text messages about unpaid tolls with the North Texas Toll Authority. Similar reports came from readers in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Washington. This is by no means a comprehensive list.

A new module from the Lighthouse SMS phishing kit released Jan. 14 targets customers of the North Texas Toll Authority (NTTA).

In each case, the emergence of these SMS phishing attacks coincided with the release of new phishing kit capabilities that closely mimic these toll operator websites as they appear on mobile devices. Notably, none of the phishing pages will even load unless the website detects that the visitor is coming from a mobile device.

Ford Merrill works in security research at SecAlliance, a CSIS Security Group company. Merrill said the volume of SMS phishing attacks spoofing toll road operators skyrocketed after the New Year, when at least one Chinese cybercriminal group known for selling sophisticated SMS phishing kits began offering new phishing pages designed to spoof toll operators in various U.S. states.

According to Merrill, multiple China-based cybercriminals are selling distinct SMS-based phishing kits that each have hundreds or thousands of customers. The ultimate goal of these kits, he said, is to phish enough information from victims that their payment cards can be added to mobile wallets and used to buy goods at physical stores, online, or to launder money through shell companies.

A component of the Chinese SMS phishing kit Lighthouse made to target customers of The Toll Roads, which refers to several state routes through Orange County, Calif.

Merrill said the different purveyors of these SMS phishing tools traditionally have impersonated shipping companies, customs authorities, and even governments with tax refund lures and visa or immigration renewal scams targeting people who may be living abroad or new to a country.

“What we’re seeing with these tolls scams is just a continuation of the Chinese smishing groups rotating from package redelivery schemes to toll road scams,” Merrill said. “Every one of us by now is sick and tired of receiving these package smishing attacks, so now it’s a new twist on an existing scam.”

In October 2023, KrebsOnSecurity wrote about a massive uptick in SMS phishing scams targeting U.S. Postal Service customers. That story revealed the surge was tied to innovations introduced by “Chenlun,” a mainland China-based proprietor of a popular phishing kit and service. At the time, Chenlun had just introduced new phishing pages made to impersonate postal services in the United States and at least a dozen other countries.

SMS phishing kits are hardly new, but Merrill said Chinese smishing groups recently have introduced innovations in deliverability, by more seamlessly integrating their spam messages with Apple’s iMessage technology, and with RCS, the equivalent “rich text” messaging capability built into Android devices.

“While traditional smishing kits relied heavily on SMS for delivery, nowadays the actors make heavy use of iMessage and RCS because telecom operators can’t filter them and they likely have a higher success rate with these delivery channels,” he said.

It remains unclear how the phishers have selected their targets, or from where their data may be sourced. A notice from MassDOT cautions that “the targeted phone numbers seem to be chosen at random and are not uniquely associated with an account or usage of toll roads.”

Indeed, one reader shared on Mastodon yesterday that they’d received one of these SMS phishing attacks spoofing a local toll operator, when they didn’t even own a vehicle.

Targeted or not, these phishing websites are dangerous because they are operated dynamically in real-time by criminals. If you receive one of these messages, just ignore it or delete it, but please do not visit the phishing site. The FBI asks that before you bin the missives, consider filing a complaint with the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), including the phone number where the text originated, and the website listed within the text.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested more than 7,400 people in nine days across several states amid its aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration since the new Trump administration came into office. 

ICE officers have been seen carrying out raids of homes, work sites, and other establishments, while deportations have also ramped up, with the Trump administration also vowing to send the most violent migrants to Guantánamo Bay.

According to a compilation of daily totals of arrests, as of Jan. 31, ICE has so far arrested 7,412 people who the agency says are in the country illegally. The agency says that nearly 6,000 ICE detainers have been placed on individuals.

NYC RESIDENTS PRAISE ICE RAIDS AFTER VIOLENT GANG MEMBER CAPTURED

ICE has posted nine daily arrest totals to X and has also posted details from various raids across sanctuary cities like New York City, Chicago and Boston where they have scooped up illegals accused of sex crimes against minors, rapes, guns and drug offenses, while violent gang members belonging to Tren de Aragua and MS-13 have also been taken off the streets. 

Border czar Tom Homan has said the administration is currently only targeting violent illegal aliens while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees ICE, says federal immigration authorities are arresting the "worst of the worst" in raids. She says the streets are now safer as a result.

Many of the ICE raids have been carried out alongside other federal agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Noem joined an immigration enforcement raid in New York City Tuesday morning in which officers picked up Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 26, an alleged ringleader of the violent Tren de Aragua gang. Zambrano-Pacheco is the same man caught on camera in a viral video showing heavily armed men kicking down an apartment door at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, last summer.

Luis Adolfo Guerra Perez, 19, a Guatemalan citizen and MS-13 gang member, was arrested by ICE in Massachusetts last week. He was facing state gun charges and had previously been ordered to be deported before he was released by a Boston court.

ICE has published details of more than 60 cases while the White House X account has posted details of at least 20 others.

NOEM SAYS 'WORST OF THE WORST' ARRESTED IN NYC RAID TARGETING CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

However, for the vast majority of the 7,412, details on their criminal histories are not yet available.

The arrests total come as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed that the "worst of the worst" criminal migrants will be temporarily housed at Guantánamo Bay detention camp and that "all options will be on the table" for military action against the cartels.

Hegseth made the announcement in an interview with "Fox and Friends" on Friday and it came on the heels of an announcement made by President Donald Trump on Wednesday that he will be instructing the Pentagon to prepare Guantánamo Bay to detain 30,000 "criminal illegal aliens."

"Today I'm also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay," Trump said. "Most people don't even know about it."

It was later learned that Trump signed a presidential memorandum, not an executive order, on the matter.

News of the arrests has been generally well-received by locals living in these areas. 

Ramses Frías, a local Queens activist who’s voiced concerns over a crime crisis gripping his neighborhood, which is partially represented by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said the raids have also been warmly received by the community.

"Many residents, from immigrants to citizens, welcome ICE coming in and taking the criminals out of these communities," Frías, a city council candidate, told Fox News Digital. "They welcome law and order and want safe streets."

However, not everyone agreed with the raids and Mayor Brandon Johnson recently "reaffirmed" his commitment to keep Chicago a sanctuary city, as did Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. 

A fugitive on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for allegedly killing his wife on their wedding night in Illinois more than 12 years ago was captured in Mexico, according to FBI Chicago.

Arnoldo Jimenez was taken into custody without incident on Thursday in Monterrey, Mexico, in connection with the 2012 death of 26-year-old Estrella Carrera.

On May 13, 2012, Carrera was found dead in the bathtub of her apartment in Burbank, Illinois, less than 48 hours after her marriage to Jimenez.

DOJ DIRECTS FBI TO FIRE 8 TOP OFFICIALS, IDENTIFY EMPLOYEES INVOLVED IN JAN. 6, HAMAS CASES FOR REVIEW

Jimenez was charged with first-degree murder, and a state warrant issued for his arrest on May 15, 2012. A federal warrant was issued two days later after Jimenez was charged federally with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

FBI Chicago, FBI San Antonio, FBI LEGAT Mexico City and the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois collaborated in the investigation to locate Jimenez. Agents with the Fiscalía General de la República, in conjunction with the International Criminal Police Organization, arrested him.

TRUMP ADMIN TELLS SENIOR FBI RANKS TO RESIGN OR BE FIRED

"The FBI is extremely appreciative of the Burbank Police Department, our law enforcement partners in Mexico, and the public for their tremendous investigative efforts and collaboration in the capture of Ten Most Wanted Fugitive Arnoldo Jimenez," Douglas S. DePodesta, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office, said in a statement "The FBI will use all of its available resources to bring criminals to justice, no matter how much time has passed or where they may be in the world."

Burbank Police Deputy Chief William Casey said: "The apprehension of Arnoldo Jimenez was the result of the tireless teamwork by the FBI and Burbank Police Department, and we would like to commend the professionalism and dedication of everyone involved. The FBI and Burbank Police Department were committed to bringing justice for Estrella Carrera and her family."

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Jimenez will remain in custody pending extradition proceedings.

He was the fourth-most wanted fugitive in the U.S. when he was taken into custody.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo to the acting FBI director Friday evening directing him to terminate eight FBI employees and identify all current and former bureau personnel assigned to Jan. 6 and Hamas cases for an internal review, Fox News has learned. 

Bove's memo to acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, which was obtained by Fox News, asserts the Department of Justice cannot trust the FBI employees to carry out President Donald Trump's agenda.

The subject of the memo is "Terminations."

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FIRES MORE THAN A DOZEN KEY OFFICIALS ON FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH'S TEAM

"This memorandum sets forth a series of directives, authorized by the Acting Attorney General, regarding personnel matters to be addressed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Bove wrote. 

Bove, a former Trump defense attorney, directed Driscoll to fire eight specific FBI employees by Monday, Feb. 3, at 5:30 p.m. 

"I do not believe that the current leadership of the Justice Department can trust these FBI employees to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully," Bove wrote in the memo. 

Bove cited comments made by President Trump on his first day back in office, in which Trump accused the Biden administration's law enforcement and intelligence agencies of going after Biden's political adversaries.

"The American people have witnessed the previous administration engage in a systemic campaign against its perceived political opponents, weaponizing the legal force of numerous Federal law enforcement agencies and the Intelligence Community against those perceived political opponents in the form of investigations, prosecutions, civil enforcement actions, and other related actions," Bove's memo noted. "This includes the FBI."

ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT RESPONSIBLE FOR OPENING JACK SMITH ELECTOR CASE AGAINST PRESIDENT: WHISTLEBLOWER

Bove said the FBI’s "prior leadership actively participated in what President Trump appropriately described as ‘a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years’ with respect to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

"The weaponization of the FBI’s security clearance process is similarly troubling," Bove continued. "So too are issues relating to the FBI’s reticence to address instructions and requests from, among other places, the Justice Department." 

Bove said the problems "are symptomatic of deficiencies in previous leadership that must now be addressed."

Bove wrote that he "deem[s] these terminations necessary, pursuant to President Trump’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order, entitled ‘Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government’ in order to continue the process of restoring a culture of integrity, credibility, accountability, and responsiveness to the leadership and directives of President Trump and the Justice Department." 

Beyond the terminations of the eight employees, Bove directed Driscoll to identify by noon Tuesday, Feb. 4, "all current and former FBI personnel assigned at any time to investigations and/or prosecutions" relating to "the events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021" and United States v. Haniyeh, a terrorism case against six Hamas leaders charged with planning and carrying out the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel. 

The defendants in that case include Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, high-level Hamas leaders believed to have been assassinated in 2024 by Israeli operatives.

MAJOR FBI CHANGES KASH PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 IF CONFIRMED AS DIRECTOR

Bove ordered that the lists of employees Driscoll should compile "should include relevant supervisory personnel in FBI regional offices and field divisions, as well as at FBI headquarters." 

"For each employee included in the list, provide the current title, office to which the person is assigned, role in the investigation or prosecution, and date of last activity relating to the investigation or prosecution," Bove directed. "Upon timely receipt of the requested information, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General will commence a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary." 

Fox News also obtained the letter Driscoll sent to bureau employees Friday evening after receiving Bove’s memo. In it, Driscoll notified employees he was directed to fire the specific employees Bove identified "unless these employees have retired beforehand." 

"I have been personally in touch with each of these impacted employees," Driscoll wrote. 

As for the directive to compile a list of FBI employees involved in the Jan. 6 and Hamas cases, Driscoll said that request "encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts." 

"I am one of those employees, as is acting Deputy Director Kissane," Driscoll wrote. "As we’ve said since the moment we agreed to take on these roles, we are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do what’s in the best interest of the workforce and the American people — always.

"We will be back in touch with more information as soon as we can. In the meantime, stay safe, and take care of each other." 

The FBI declined to comment on any personnel matters, including names, titles or numbers.

The DOJ directive comes after Acting Attorney General James McHenry earlier this week fired more than a dozen key officials who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s team prosecuting Trump. Fox News Digital exclusively reported the action Monday. 

A DOJ official Monday used similar language to that seen in Bove's letter, telling Fox News Digital McHenry "does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the president’s agenda." 

The directive also comes a day after Fox News Digital exclusively reported that whistleblower emails were shared with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, revealing that a former FBI agent, Timothy Thibault, allegedly broke protocol and played a critical role in opening and advancing the bureau’s original investigation related to the 2020 election, tying President Donald Trump to the probe without sufficient predication. 

Bove's memo also comes a day after President Trump's nominee to lead the bureau, Kash Patel, testified during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Trump and allies have maintained the law enforcement agency was weaponized against him and conservatives across the nation. 

The House Judiciary Committee, for months, investigated the FBI for the creation of a memo targeting Catholics and parents at school board meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

President Trump on Friday evening denied any involvement in the DOJ directive. 

"We have some very bad people over there," Trump said Friday. "They came after a lot of people like me, but they came after a lot of people. No, I wasn't involved in that.

"I'll have to see what is exactly going on after this is finished," he added. "But if they fired some people over there, that's a good thing, because they were very bad. They were very corrupt people, very corrupt, and they hurt our country very badly with the weaponization. They used, they used the Justice Department to go after their political opponent, which in itself is illegal. And obviously it didn't work."

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's pick for FBI director, claimed Thursday that he won't stand for federal law enforcement needing a warrant for surveillance in some scenarios because it's plainly impractical in real-time practices. Despite lawmakers’ surprise at his opposition, legal experts say his take is far from unusual within the law enforcement arena.

Patel was peppered with questions Thursday on a provision called Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. When asked if he believed that a warrant requirement is "practical and workable or even a necessary element of 702," Patel said he had issues with "those that have been in government service and abused it in the past." Patel said that because of the viability of abuse, "we must work with Congress to provide the protections necessary for American citizens dealing with these matters."

"Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizenry," Patel said during his Senate hearing. "I'm all open to working with Congress on finding a better way forward. But right now, these improvements that you've made go a long way."

4 OF THE BIGGEST CLASHES BETWEEN PATEL, SENATE DEMS AT HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING

"The fact that the soon-to-be head of the nation's, sort of, top law enforcement agency takes the position that is favored by law enforcement shouldn't surprise anybody," former assistant district attorney and criminal defense attorney Phil Holloway told Fox News Digital. 

"When Mr. Patel answered the question the way that he did, that answer is adverse to the public positions taken by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle." 

Patel, throughout his testimony, emphasized his interest in working with Congress if he were to head the FBI.

"Some lawmakers have absolutely called for the necessity of a warrant in these situations. And so it makes sense that the senators would ask the nominee to run the FBI whether or not he has an opinion on it," Holloway continued. "But, ultimately, it's not his call."

KASH PATEL HAMMERS ‘GROTESQUE MISCHARACTERIZATIONS’ FROM DEMS AMID FIERY FBI CONFIRMATION HEARING

"I've always thought that there's a middle ground here where you don't have to. And I think there are some situations that warrant a warrant and deserve a warrantless search," Palm Beach County, Fla., state attorney Dave Aronberg told Fox News Digital. "And I think Patel's remarks show that he thinks the same way."

Aronberg noted that under U.S. law, there is a warrant exception under exigent circumstances, i.e. emergency situations, where it is impractical to obtain a warrant. 

"What Kash Patel is saying is that there may be some situations that may be in that gray area where you shouldn't have to get a warrant," Aronberg said. "And I am encouraged by his comments because I do think that law enforcement needs flexibility when it comes to national security matters, especially with the very real threat of terrorism here on our shores."

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Congress voted to pass a renewal of FISA's Section 702 last April. The legislation serves as a governmental tool in gathering intelligence on foreign subjects using the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers. 

If the renewal had not been passed, the expiration would have meant companies would not be forced to comply with the government's requests for surveillance aid under the bill. 

Without the FISA section's reauthorization, the government would be required to seek a warrant to compel any such assistance, which is a process that can span extended periods of time. 

Earlier this month, a federal district court ruled that the federal government had violated the Fourth Amendment when it searched the communications of an Albanian citizen residing in the U.S. at the time of his arrest without a warrant. The information had been collected under FISA's Section 702. 

"The individual rights of people in the United States under our Constitution come first," Holloway said. "So having constitutional requirements that sort of frustrate or perhaps slow down law enforcement, this is a tension that is not new at all. And so what we're seeing is this playing out."

Fox News Digital's Liz Elkind and Julia Johnson contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE: The FBI is on the ground working alongside agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other law enforcement bodies conducting a nationwide crackdown on criminal aliens ordered by President Donald Trump, photos obtained by Fox News Digital reveal.

"I've talked to every single one of our special agents in charge of all 55 of our divisions," acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll told Fox News Digital on Thursday. "I know that every single one of them has reached out to their DHS counterparts to offer assistance and support. So we here at the FBI are really leaning forward to assist DHS the best that we can, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder."

The FBI's presence bolsters Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and other partner agencies with the bureau's vast resources, including tactical teams and its intelligence network. 

VP VANCE DOUBLES DOWN ON WHITE HOUSE GOAL TO GET CRIMINAL MIGRANTS OFF THE STREETS

Those resources worked alongside DHS agents in New York City earlier this week, helping identify and capture dozens of "the worst of the worst" suspects, including a 25-year-old suspected Tren de Aragua gang member.

He is believed to have been involved in a violent incident in Colorado before police found him Monday in a Bronx apartment across the street from a school.

MIGRANT TDA GANG MEMBER BREAKS OFFICER'S ARM AS 10 INDICTED IN MASSIVE GUNS, DRUG RUNNING OPERATION: POLICE

And they extend across the country.

In El Paso, Texas, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, ICE and agents from its Enforcement Removal Operations wing were seen on the ground as part of a mission that led to the capture of a suspect accused of running a stash house for human smugglers.

CHINESE MIGRANTS FLOOD SOUTH FLORIDA VIA BOAT AS AUTHORITIES SEEK HELP WITH CUBAN SMUGGLERS

"Our best chance to protect Americans, whether it's from the threats posed by groups like ISIS or in our efforts to dismantle groups like Tren de Aragua, the best way to do that is to put our heads together, our tools together, our efforts together with DHS, but also with all of our United States intelligence community and law enforcement partners around the country," Driscoll said.

In a series of targeted raids in Chicago, the FBI provided not just intelligence and tactical SWAT team members, but also legal experts to help round up illegal immigrants with suspected criminal ties.

In New York, they provided "advanced tactical support" and helped set up a crisis management coordination center covering the whole city.

"We are and will remain postured to support DHS the best that we can over here at the FBI," Driscoll said.

Operations across the country over the past seven days have netted roughly 5,500 suspected criminal aliens, according to figures released by ICE.

A clash on Thursday between Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Kash Patel, the nominee for FBI director, set social media ablaze when conservatives ripped into the new California senator after what they saw as a win for the Trump nominee.

Schiff, in his line of questioning at Patel’s confirmation hearing, began by asking Patel whether he stood by prior testimony that he had nothing to do with the recording of a song about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot inmates.

"[That] is interesting, because here's what you told Steve Bannon on his podcast: ‘So, what we thought would be cool is if we captured that audio and then, of course, had the greatest president, President Donald J. Trump, recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we went to a studio and recorded it, mastered it, digitized it, and put it out as a song.'"

KASH PATEL ENRAGES ADAM SCHIFF IN CLINTONIAN BATTLE OVER THE WORD ‘WE’ AND A JANUARY 6 SONG 

The two quibbled over the meaning of "we" and whether it included Patel.

"Yeah, and you’re part of that ‘we’ — right — when you say ‘we,’ that includes you, Mr. Patel," Schiff said.

"Not in every instance." Patel said, adding he had not personally participated in the recording or mastering of the single.

Schiff responded, "Well, that's new. So, when you said ‘we,' you didn't really mean you. Is that your testimony?"

"Not unless you have a new definition for the word ‘we,'" Patel said.

In Thursday’s hearing, however, Patel said he was using the word "we" appropriately, while Schiff said he had "promoted the hell out of it," referencing the inmates’ single.

"I don't know what that means, but I promoted the heck out of raising money for families in need," Patel shot back.

In another exchange, Schiff asked Patel if an FBI director promoted a song about people who sprayed pepper spray in the face of an FBI agent, "would you say they were fit to be director?"

"I am fit to be the director of the FBI," Patel said.

Supporters of the Trump administration hammered Schiff and praised Patel over the exchanges.

MAJOR CHANGES PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 AT FBI

"California’s Senator @SenAdamSchiff screams and screeches about the January 6th choir during Kash’s confirmation - and completely misses an opportunity to represent commonsense Californians," former DNI Director Richard Grenell posted on X. "We want representatives who don’t lie. Who don’t miss the big picture. Schiff is partisan and petty."

National Review contributor Pradheep Shanker said "any committee that [Sen. Mazie] Hirono, Schiff or [Sen. Sheldon] Whitehouse is on is one where Democrats completely lose all credibility."

"I honestly thought Bernie Sanders yelling at RFK Jr. about onesies was going to be the craziest thing from the hearings this week," Daily Signal columnist Tony Kinnett said. "Then I watched Adam Schiff yelling at Kash Patel for 5 minutes about song remixes. Good Lord."

"Schiff can’t be trusted to serve on committees," Judicial Watch Chairman Tom Fitton said.

Schiff argued he had won the exchange.

"Kash Patel raised money for January 6 insurrectionists who attacked law enforcement. I asked him to look those officers in the eye and tell them he was proud of what he did. He couldn't," Schiff wrote on X.

It was one of a number of fiery exchanges during the hearing. Democrats quizzed Patel about his record, including statements he had made in his book, "Government Gangsters."

Patel slammed what he described as "grotesque" attacks against him.

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"If the best attacks on me are going to be false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations, the only thing this body is doing is defeating the credibility of the men and women at the FBI," he said.

"I stood with them here in this country, in every theater of war we have. I was on the ground in service of this nation. And any accusations leveled against me that I would somehow put political bias before the Constitution are grotesquely unfair."

Conservatives on social media praised Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, after a thorny exchange with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., during his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

"That's a general statement and a mischaracterization of what I said," Patel told Klobuchar in response to questioning about a past quote that the senator suggested showed Patel believes some U.S. Capitol Police officers lied under oath during the Jan. 6 hearings. 

"I encourage you to read the rest of the interviews," Patel added. "This is why snippets of information are often misleading and detrimental to this committee's advice and consent."

Klobuchar responded, "If you consent, I would love to have five hours of questions, and then I could read the whole transcripts."

KASH PATEL HAMMERS ‘GROTESQUE MISCHARACTERIZATIONS’ FROM DEMS AMID FIERY FBI CONFIRMATION HEARING

"You've got two minutes," Patel responded.

"Wow," Klobuchar replied before moving to another topic.

KASH PATEL FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM SENATOR AFTER BEING GRILLED ON J6 PARDONS: 'BRUTAL REALITY CHECK'

Numerous conservatives on social media praised Patel for his "sass" during the exchange.

"Amy Klobuchar continues to get outmaneuvered by Kash Patel at every turn of this committee hearing," Townhall.com columnist Dustin Grage posted on X.

"Damnnnn," Mark Levin show producer Rich Sementa posted on X. "Kash Patel For The Win."

"SAVAGE," conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted on X.

"My favorite moment from this hearing," former Trump campaign fundraiser Caroline Wren posted on X. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Klobuchar's office for comment.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., grilled Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the FBI, over Patel’s pro-gun stances.

Asked by Padilla whether Patel believes background checks on firearm purchases are constitutional during the nominee’s confirmation hearing Thursday, Patel responded that he didn’t know "the in-depths of it," but believed "that’s what the Supreme Court said."

"Do you think civilian ownership of machine guns is protected by the Second Amendment?" Padilla fired back.

EX-FBI OFFICIAL WHO SHUT DOWN HUNTER BIDEN LINES OF INVESTIGATION VIOLATED HATCH ACT WITH ANTI-TRUMP POSTS 

"Whatever the courts rule in regards to the Second Amendment is what is protected by the Second Amendment," Patel responded.

Padilla explained that his line of questioning was due to an "association" between Patel and the group Gun Owners of America, which enthusiastically endorsed Trump’s choice to lead the FBI.

"GOA Applauds Nomination of ‘Fiercely Pro-Gun’ Kash Patel for FBI Director," the organization said in a press release following Trump’s announcement to tap Patel.

KASH PATEL, TRUMP'S PICK FOR FBI DIRECTOR, ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON JAN. 6 , QANON, AND MORE

Padilla expressed concern over the enthusiastic endorsement, arguing that the organization has taken "extreme positions" on guns.

"Gun Owners of America has taken extreme positions, including the position that all background checks are unconstitutional and that civilian ownership of machine guns is protected under the Second Amendment," Padilla said.

Padilla then argued that Patel would be responsible for overseeing some of the country’s most critical gun regulations at the FBI, expressing concern that Trump’s nominee is not up to the task.

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"Let me remind you that as FBI director, you will oversee critical responsibilities related to firearm regulation, you’re administering the national instant criminal background check system. Yes, it’s constitutional, it’s in place, for a reason! You would also regulate the distribution of machine guns to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Policies and programs are in place for a reason," Padilla said.

"Given your hesitancy, given your answers, I am concerned about your ability to do the job when it’s not in alignment with views like Gun Owners of America."

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, pledged Thursday to work with a top Republican senator on exposing who worked with Jeffrey Epstein in trafficking and exploiting children.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., quizzed Patel about how he would handle the Epstein case. The sex-trafficking financier died in 2019 while awaiting trial. Nearly 200 names that had previously been redacted from court documents in a lawsuit against his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell were made public last year.

However, Blackburn said there is still more to be known, including the names of those who flew on his plane and accomplices.

KASH PATEL FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM SENATOR AFTER BEING GRILLED ON J6 PARDONS: ‘BRUTAL REALITY CHECK’ 

"I want to talk to you about the Epstein case. I have worked on this for years trying to get those records of who flew on Epstein's plane and who helped him build this international human trafficking sex trafficking ring," she said.

She used her remarks to take a jab at former Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin.

"Now, earlier, I urged then Chairman Durbin to subpoena those records, and I ended up being blocked by Senator Durbin and Christopher Wray. They stonewalled on this," she said. "And I know that breaking up these trafficking rings is important to President Trump. So will you work with me on this issue? So we know who worked with Jeffrey Epstein in building these sex trafficking rings?" she asked.

KASH PATEL HAMMERS ‘GROTESQUE MISCHARACTERIZATIONS’ FROM DEMS AMID FIERY FBI CONFIRMATION HEARING 

"Absolutely, Senator," Patel responded. "Child sex trafficking has no place in the United States of America. And I will do everything, if confirmed as FBI director, to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in the past and how we are going to counterman missing children and exploited children going forward," he said.

Following the exchange between Blackburn and Patel, Durbin requested to respond to Blackburn's jab at him and accused the Tennessee senator of "falsely" accusing him "of preventing releasing the names of Jeffrey Epstein's network."

"My office subsequently reached out to hers to try to identify what records she was actually seeking. We did not receive a response," he added.

Blackburn fired back and said she had "raised the issue with Chairman Durbin. I had raised it on the floor that we wanted to get these records… You sought not to recognize me."

Patel's nomination has sparked early criticism from some Democrats ahead of his confirmation hearing, who have cited his previous vows to prosecute journalists and career officials at the Justice Department and FBI that he sees as being part of the "deep state."

Democrats had pointed to Patel’s record and a book, "Government Gangsters," released in 2023 that claimed that "deep state" government employees have politicized and weaponized the law enforcement agency – and explicitly called for the revamp of the FBI in a chapter dubbed "Overhauling the FBI."

Fox News' Emma Colton and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., clashed with FBI director nominee Kash Patel during his confirmation hearing on Thursday, particularly over a recording of a song released by Capitol Riot inmates.

Schiff began by asking Patel if he stood by prior testimony that he had nothing to do with the recording of the song, which the Democrat said featured President Donald Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

"[That] is interesting because here's what you told Steve Bannon on his podcast: ‘So what we thought would be cool is if we captured that audio and then, of course, had the greatest president, President Donald J. Trump, recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we went to a studio and recorded it, mastered it, digitized it, and put it out as a song’."

Schiff asked Patel why he told Bannon that.

"That’s why it says ‘we’ as you highlighted," Patel incredulously shot back.

FLASHBACK: SCHIFF, WHO REPEATEDLY CLAIMED EVIDENCE OF RUSSIAN COLLUSION, DENOUNCES DURHAM REPORT AS ‘FLAWED’

"Yeah, and you’re part of that ‘we’ – right – when you say ‘we’ that includes you, Mr. Patel," Schiff angrily replied.

"Not in every instance." Patel said, adding he did not personally partake in the recording or mastering of the single.

Schiff was undeterred: "Well, that's new. So when you said ‘we’. You didn't really mean you. Is that your testimony?"

"Not unless you have a new definition for the word ‘we’," Patel said.

Notably, in August 1997, President Bill Clinton was pressed on his sexual relations with intern Monica Lewinsky, and responded with a similar tenor as to which usage of the word "is" was being invoked during grand jury testimony.

MAJOR CHANGES PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 AT FBI

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the—if he—if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement," Clinton said.

In Thursday’s hearing, however, Patel said he was using the word "we" appropriately, while Schiff said he "promoted the hell out of it" – referencing the inmates’ single.

"I don't know what that means, but I promoted the heck out of raising money for families in need," Patel shot back.

Schiff then asked Patel to turn around and address the police officers in the room, claiming the inmates on the recording he purportedly promoted had assaulted them or their colleagues on January 6, 2021.

"I'm looking at you. You're talking to me," Patel sternly replied.

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When Schiff asked Patel to "tell them how proud you are" to see Trump pardon all such inmates, Patel said it was "an abject lie – and you know it."

"I've never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement. I've worked with these men and women, as you know, you my entire life."

President Trump’s FBI director nominee Kash Patel pledged in his confirmation to end the "targeting" of Americans by the government specifically as it relates to citizens who were in the crosshairs of the Biden administration for religious reasons.

"Is it appropriate for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to attempt to recruit spies or informants into religious institutions in this country, particularly Catholic parishes?" GOP Sen. Josh Hawley asked Patel in his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Patel responded, "I don’t believe so, senator."

"Mr. Patel, are you familiar with the recent actions of the FBI in this regard, including this memo that I have right here making a list of Catholic churches and parishes that they regard as potentially suspect and directing the potential recruitment of informants and other spies, let's be honest, into those parishes," Hawley asked.

GRAHAM GRILLS FBI NOMINEE PATEL OVER 'DISGUSTING' AND 'CORRUPT' CROSSFIRE HURRICANE PROBE

Patel told Hawley is familiar with the memo leading the Missouri Republican into his next question.

"Mr. Patel, would you commit to me that you will, if you are confirmed, that you will finally and officially withdraw this memo and make it clear that this is not only unacceptable, but that it is an absolute violation of the First Amendment, that every American voice under the Constitution of the United States," Hawley asked.

"If I'm confirmed, Senator, yes," Patel said back. 

KASH PATEL FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM SENATOR AFTER BEING GRILLED ON J6 PARDONS: 'BRUTAL REALITY CHECK'

"Will you also commit to me that you will conduct an investigation and find out who wrote this memo, who spread this memo?" Hawley asked. "The field offices involved in this memo, because I can tell you, we've had your predecessor sit right where you're sitting. And he has repeatedly, repeatedly lied, there's no other word for it, lied to this committee. He told us initially that it didn't happen, that the FBI didn't make any list of churches. That's not true. We have it. A whistleblower brought forward the list for us."

"He said then that only one field office had worked on, it turns out we know from another whistleblower, multiple field offices worked on it, worked on it. He said that it was never posted on the internal system. It turns out it was. We believe it's still in effect. Will you find out who was involved in this gross abuse of Americans First Amendment rights? And will you discipline them? And if you possibly can, will you fire them? Mr. Patel, consistent with Department policy and law?"

Patel told Hawley that the senator has his "commitment" to "investigate any matters such as this" that "are important to Congress."

"I will fully utilize, if confirmed, the investigative powers of the FBI to give you the information you require, and also to hold those accountable who violated the sacred trust placed in them at the FBI," Patel told Hawley.

Hawley responded, "I'm glad to use the word sacred trust, because that's exactly what it is. The FBI's the most powerful law enforcement body in this nation, arguably the most powerful law enforcement body, at least in a free nation in the world and to have this body corrupted politically such that it is targeting people of faith in this country and then lying about it to this committee and the American people is unimaginable."

"I'll be honest with you, I never thought this would happen in the United States of America, I just didn't. If you had told me five years ago we'd be reading memos like this, I would have said, no way, no way. That's bad fiction. In fact, it's a horrible reality. The department needs to be cleaned up."

The exchanges comes on the heels of Trump's recent announcement that he would pardon pro-life activists convicted under the FACE Act during President Joe Biden's administration.

The pardons, first reported by The Daily Wire, would apply to activists convicted of protesting near abortion clinics during various demonstrations. The details and scope of the pardons have yet to be revealed.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has also introduced legislation that would dismantle the FACE Act. Many lawmakers have argued that Democratic administrations have weaponized it against pro-life groups and Christians.

Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report
 

Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, ripped into "false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations" from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Patel, a former public defender and DOJ official, was grilled by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who accused Patel of having called for FBI headquarters to be shut down. That came on the back of a number of barbs coming from Democrats on the Committee.

Patel fired back with a fiery response.

SPARKS EXPECTED TO FLY AT KASH PATEL'S CONFIRMATION HEARING TO LEAD FBI

"If the best attacks on me are going to be false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations, the only thing this body is doing is defeating the credibility of the men and women at the FBI," he said.

"I stood with them here in this country, in every theater of war we have. I was on the ground in service of this nation. And any accusations leveled against me that I would somehow put political bias before the Constitution are grotesquely unfair," he said.

He then pointed to an endorsement by over 300,000 law enforcement officers to be the next head of the bureau.

"Let's ask them," he said.

Democrats had pointed to Patel’s record and a book, "Government Gangsters," released in 2023 that claimed that "deep state" government employees have politicized and weaponized the law enforcement agency – and explicitly called for the revamp of the FBI in a chapter dubbed "Overhauling the FBI."

WHO IS KASH PATEL? TRUMP'S PICK TO LEAD THE FBI HAS LONG HISTORY VOWING TO BUST UP 'DEEP STATE'

"Things are bad. There’s no denying it," he wrote in the book. "The FBI has gravely abused its power, threatening not only the rule of law, but the very foundations of self-government at the root of our democracy. But this isn’t the end of the story. Change is possible at the FBI and desperately needed." 

Patel received praise from Republicans on the Committee, with Chairman Chuck Grassley arguing he could help restore trust in the FBI.

"Public trust in the FBI is low," Grassley said in his opening remarks. "Only 41% of the American public thinks the FBI is doing a good job. This is the lowest rating in a century."

FORMER TRUMP OFFICIALS REJECT WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIM THAT FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL BROKE HOSTAGE PROTOCOL

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, however, cited several Republican figures who have opposed Patel’s nomination, including former National Security Advisor John Bolton who he said had claimed was "forced to hire him."

"Former CIA director Gina Haspel was reportedly threatening to resign rather than have this nominee serve under her," Whitehouse said.

"Former Attorney General Bill Barr said this nominee has virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world's preeminent law enforcement agency, end quote."

Patel later accused Whitehouse of using "partial quotations" in further criticisms about alleged intentions to "prosecute journalists" and his so-called ‘enemies list’ – a term Patel said he does not endorse.

Fox News’ Charles Creitz and Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, pushed back in his confirmation hearing after he was grilled on the president’s pardoning of Jan. 6 rioters.

"So do you think that America is safer because the 1,600 people have been given an opportunity to come out of serving their sentences and live in our communities again?" Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked Patel during Thursday’s hearing, pressing him on Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted police officers having their sentences commuted earlier this month.

Patel responded with a reference to Biden’s decision in the final hours of his presidency to free Leonard Peltier, a far-left activist convicted in the 1975 murders of two FBI special agents, Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, who were gunned down in a shootout in South Dakota.

"Senator, I have not looked at all 1,600 individual cases," Patel said.

DOZENS OF FORMER FBI AGENTS RALLY AROUND KASH PATEL'S CONFIRMATION: 'LIVES HAVE BEEN SHATTERED'

"I have always advocated for imprisoning those that cause harm to our law enforcement and civilian communities. I also believe America is not safer because President Biden's commutation of a man who murdered two FBI agents. Agent Coler and Williams' family deserve better than to have the man that point-blank range fired a shotgun into their heads and murdered them, released from prison. So it goes both ways."

Durbin responded by downplaying the comparison between Peltier and the Jan. 6 rioters.

MAJOR FBI CHANGES KASH PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 IF CONFIRMED AS DIRECTOR

"Leonard Peltier was in prison for 45 years," Durbin responded. "He's 80 years old, and he was sentenced to home confinement. So he's not free. As you might have just suggested. He killed two FBI agents. That he did, and he went to prison for it and should have. My question to you, though, is, do you think America's safer because President Trump issued these pardons to 1,600 of these criminal defendants, many of whom violently assaulted our police in the Capitol?"

Patel responded, "Senator, America will be safe when we don't have 200,000 drug overdoses in two years. America will be safe when we don't have 50 homicides a day."

Conservatives and supporters of Patel on social media praised Patel for his response.

"Brutal reality check," political commentator and Confirm 47 executive director Camryn Kinsey posted on X.

In his opening remarks, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said, "Public trust in the FBI is low."

"Only 41% of the American public thinks the FBI is doing a good job. This is the lowest rating in a century," he continued.

Grassley touted Patel's experience as a public defender and at the Justice Department, as well as his involvement in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2017 to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.

Patel has "managed large intelligence and defense bureaucracies, identified and countered national security threats, prosecuted and defended criminals," Grassley said. "He has done this while fighting for transparency and accountability in the government," giving him "precisely the qualifications we need at this time" to head up the bureau.

Patel's nomination has sparked early criticism from some Democrats ahead of his confirmation hearing, who have cited his previous vows to prosecute journalists and career officials at the Justice Department and FBI that he sees as being part of the "deep state."

Fox News Digital's Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump's FBI director nominee Kash Patel was grilled Thursday over the FBI’s investigation into alleged Trump-Russia connections in the aftermath of the 2016 election, known colloquially by its nickname "Crossfire Hurricane," and which has emerged as something of a partisan lightning rod in the years since the investigation was closed.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., for his part, used most of his allotted time Thursday to grill Patel over his views on the investigation, which he has railed against as politically motivated and a "disgusting" use of FBI resources.

Patel was tapped in 2017 by then-House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes to join the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe – an investigation that was widely praised by Republicans as helping discredit the FBI's inquest.

"Is it fair to say that the people in charge of investigating Crossfire Hurricane hated Trump's guts?" Graham asked Patel on Thursday during his confirmation hearing.

"Yes, sir," Patel responded.

TRUMP AG PICK PAM BONDI CLEARS JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, WILL GET CONFIRMATION VOTE IN SENATE

Graham added, "Do you believe that Crossfire Hurricane was one of the most disgusting episodes in FBI history of a corrupt investigation led by corrupt people who wanted to take Donald Trump down?" 

After Patel responded affirmatively, Graham continued to excoriate what he sees as the politicization of the FBI, which he claimed is "ignoring evidence, making up evidence, and lying to get Donald Trump."

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY DEFENDS TRUMP'S FIRING OF INSPECTORS GENERAL

"FBI agents were telling anybody and everybody would listen that [the investigation] is not reliable, this is not trustworthy. But they plowed on," Graham added. 

"That's why you're in this chair today to fix that," said Graham. "Without Crossfire Hurricane, this guy wouldn't be here."

Patel is a close ally of President Trump and served in the first Trump administration both as a deputy assistant and as the senior director for counterterrorism. 

His nomination has sparked early criticism from some Democrats ahead of his confirmation hearing, who have cited his previous vows to prosecute journalists and career officials at the Justice Department and FBI that he sees as being part of the "deep state."

He has since attempted to clarify some of those remarks.

EXCLUSIVE: WASHINGTON — A previously identified anti-Trump FBI agent allegedly broke protocol and played a critical role in opening and advancing the bureau’s original investigation related to the 2020 election, tying President Donald Trump to the probe without sufficient predication, whistleblower disclosures obtained by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed. 

That investigation into Trump was formally opened by the FBI on April 13, 2022, and was known inside the bureau as "Arctic Frost," Fox News Digital has learned. 

EX-FBI OFFICIAL WHO SHUT DOWN HUNTER BIDEN LINES OF INVESTIGATION VIOLATED HATCH ACT WITH ANTI-TRUMP POSTS 

Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations chair, shared internal FBI emails and predicating documents — legally protected whistleblower disclosures — exclusively with Fox News Digital. 

The senators say the documents prove the genesis of the federal election interference case brought against Trump began at the hands of FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault. 

Fox News Digital exclusively reported in 2024 that Thibault had been fired from the FBI after he violated the Hatch Act in his political posts on social media. Previous whistleblowers claimed that Thibault had shown a "pattern of active public partisanship," which likely affected investigations involving Trump and Hunter Biden. 

Grassley first publicly revealed the existence of the whistleblower disclosures during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee to serve as FBI director, Kash Patel, on Thursday. 

One email, obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital, revealed Thibault communicating with a subordinate agent on Feb. 14, 2022. 

Thibault said: "Here is draft opening language we discussed," and attached material that would later become part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s elector case. 

Another email, sent by Thibault on Feb. 24, 2022, to a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, John Crabb, states: "I had a discussion with the case team and we believe there to be predication to include former President of the United States Donald J. Trump as a predicated subject." 

Sources told Fox News Digital, though, that Thibault took the action to open the investigation and involve Trump, despite being unauthorized to open criminal investigations in his role — only special agents have the authority to open criminal investigations. 

Another email, sent on the same day, notes that he would seek approval from Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray to open the case. 

Next, an email on Feb. 25, 2022, sent by a subordinate agent, Michelle Ball, to Thibault states that they added Trump and others as a criminal subject to the case. 

Thibault responded: "Perfect." 

The fifth email, reviewed by Fox News Digital, reveals Thibault emailing a version of an investigative opening for approval. However, this email did not include Trump as a criminal subject. 

The sixth email, from April 11, 2022, shows Thibault approving the opening of Arctic Frost, and the next email, on April 13, 2022, was from an FBI agent to Thibault stating that the FBI deputy director approved its opening. 

Another email reviewed by Fox News Digital shows Thibault emailing DOJ official Crabb notifying him that the elector case was approved. 

Crabb responded, "Thanks a lot. Let’s talk next week."

"Between March 22 and April 13, other versions of the document opening the investigation existed, because a ninth email shows that the FBI General Counsel’s office made edits on March 25," Grassley said during Patel's confirmation hearing Thursday. "Was Trump still removed as an investigative subject?  If so, which Justice Department and FBI officials — other than Jack Smith — later added him for prosecution?" 

The email records appear to show that an official in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, Richard Pilger, reviewed and approved the FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation, authorizing the DOJ to move forward with a full field criminal and grand jury investigation that ultimately transformed into Smith's Trump-elector case. 

Grassley, in 2021, published a report which raised concerns regarding Pilger’s record at the DOJ.

Fox News Digital first reported in July 2022 that Grassley warned Attorney General Merrick Garland that Thibault and Pilger were "deeply involved in the decisions to open and pursue election-related investigations against President Trump."

GRASSLEY PRESSES DOJ, FBI FOR TRANSPARENCY ON 'PARTISAN' POLITICIZATION OF AGENCIES, HUNTER BIDEN PROBE

At the time, whistleblowers told Grassley that the Thibault-Pilger investigation's predicating document was based on information from "liberal nonprofit American Oversight." 

In the investigation’s opening memo sent to the upper levels of the DOJ for approval, however, whistleblowers claimed Thibault and Pilger "removed or watered-down material connected to the aforementioned left-wing entities that existed in previous versions and recommended that a full investigation — not a preliminary investigation — be approved."

Based on Smith’s scope memo, Grassley and Johnson, in 2022, wrote that the Thibault-Pilger investigation was included in the special counsel’s jurisdiction.

They also pointed out that Smith had a prior relationship with Pilger. Smith was in charge of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Unit while Pilger was in charge of the Election Crimes Branch.

Grassley and Johnson, in 2022, began sounding the alarm that Special Counsel Jack Smith was "overseeing an investigation that was allegedly defective in its initial steps and an investigation which his former subordinate [Pilger] was involved in opening." 

Former Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith, a former Justice Department official, as special counsel in November 2022. 

Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney and chief to the DOJ's public integrity section, led the investigation into Trump's retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and whether the former president obstructed the federal government's investigation into the matter. 

HOUSE WEAPONIZATION PANEL RELEASES 17,000-PAGE REPORT EXPOSING 'TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT'

Smith also was tasked with overseeing the investigation into whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.

Smith charged Trump in both cases, but Trump pleaded not guilty.

The classified records case was dismissed in July 2024 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. 

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Smith charged Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request. 

Grassley, during the confirmation hearing on Thursday, said he is requesting "the production of all records on this matter to better understand the full fact pattern and whether other records exist." 

The FBI declined to comment. 

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, is expected to trade barbs with lawmakers in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. 

Patel, a former public defender, Department of Justice official and longtime Trump ally, will join the Senate committee at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, when lawmakers are anticipated to grill the nominee on plans detailed in his 2023 book to overhaul the FBI, his crusade against the "deep state" and his resume, as Democrats argue the nominee lacks the qualifications for the role. 

The president and his allies, however, staunchly have defended Patel, with Senate Judiciary member Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., arguing that Democrats are "fearful" of Patel's nomination and confirmation due to "what he's going to reveal" to the general public. 

"They are very fearful of Kash Patel, because Kash Patel knows what Adam Schiff and some of the others did with Russia collusion, and they know that he he knows – the dirt on them, if you will – and I think they're fearful of what he's going to do and what he's going to reveal," Blackburn said on Fox News on Sunday. 

WHO IS KASH PATEL? TRUMP'S PICK TO LEAD THE FBI HAS LONG HISTORY VOWING TO BUST UP 'DEEP STATE'

Patel, a New York native, worked as a public defender in Florida’s Miami-Dade after earning his law degree in 2005 from Pace University in New York City.  

Patel's national name recognition grew under the first Trump administration, when he worked as the national security advisor and senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence under the leadership of Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Patel became known as the man behind the "Nunes Memo" – a four-page document released in 2018 that revealed improper use of surveillance by the FBI and the Justice Department in the Russia investigation into Trump. 

Patel was named senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council in 2019. In that role, he assisted the Trump White House in eliminating foreign terrorist leadership, such as ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019 and al Qaeda terrorist Qasim al-Raymi in 2020, according to his biography. His efforts ending terrorist threats under the Trump administration came after he won a DOJ award in 2017 for his prosecution and conviction of 12 terrorists responsible for the World Cup bombings in 2010 in Uganda under the Obama administration. 

Following the 2020 election, Patel remained a steadfast ally of Trump's, joining the 45th president during his trial in Manhattan in the spring of 2024, and echoing that the United States’ security and law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, need to be overhauled.

'JUST LIKE TRUMP': ISIS MURDER VICTIM KAYLA MUELLER'S PARENTS ENDORSE PATEL FOR FBI FOLLOWING MILITARY OP ROLE

Patel underscored in his 2023 book, "Government Gangsters," that "deep state" government employees have politicized and weaponized the law enforcement agency – and explicitly called for the revamp of the FBI in a chapter dubbed "Overhauling the FBI."

"Things are bad. There’s no denying it," he wrote in the book. "The FBI has gravely abused its power, threatening not only the rule of law, but the very foundations of self-government at the root of our democracy. But this isn’t the end of the story. Change is possible at the FBI and desperately needed." 

"The fact is we need a federal agency that investigates federal crimes, and that agency will always be at risk of having its powers abused," he wrote, advocating the firing of "corrupt actors," "aggressive" congressional oversight over the agency and the complete overhaul of special counsels. 

FORMER TRUMP OFFICIALS REJECT WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIM THAT FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL BROKE HOSTAGE PROTOCOL

Patel adds in his book: "Most importantly, we need to get the FBI the hell out of Washington, D.C. There is no reason for the nation’s law enforcement agency to be centralized in the swamp."

Trump heralded the book as a "roadmap" to exposing bad actors in the federal government and said it is a "blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government."

Patel has spoken out against a number of high-profile investigations and issues he sees within the DOJ in the past few years. He slammed the department, for example, for allegedly burying evidence related to the identity of a suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties in Washington, D.C., a day ahead of Jan. 6, 2021.

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Patel has also said Trump could release both the Jeffrey Epstein client list and Sean "Diddy" Combs party attendee lists, which could expose those allegedly involved in sex and human trafficking crimes. 

Senate Democrats received an anonymous whistleblower report that was publicly reported Monday alleging Patel violated protocol during a hostage rescue mission in October 2020, an allegation Trump's orbit has brushed off. 

The whistleblower claimed that Patel leaked to the Wall Street Journal that two Americans and the remains of a third were being transferred to U.S. custody from Yemen, where they had been held hostage by Houthi rebels, before the hostages were actually in U.S. custody. Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, obtained the whistleblower report. 

A transition official pushed back on the report in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, saying Patel has a "track record of success."

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"Mr. Patel was a public defender, decorated prosecutor, and accomplished national security official that kept Americans safe," the official said. "He has a track record of success in every branch of government, from the courtroom to congressional hearing room to the situation room. There is no veracity to this anonymous source's complaints about protocol."  

Alexander Gray, who served as chief of staff for the White House National Security Council under Trump's first administration, called the allegation "simply absurd."

Patel's nomination comes after six of Trump's nominees were confirmed by the Senate, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth – who also was viewed as a nominee who faced an uphill confirmation battle. 

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The Senate schedule this week was packed with hearings besides Patel's, with senators grilling Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday and also holding the hearing for Tulsi Gabbard's nomination to serve as director of national intelligence. 

Patel heads into his hearing armed with a handful of high-profile endorsements, including the National Sheriffs' Association and National Police Association. 

Carl and Marsha Mueller, the parents of ISIS murder victim Kayla Mueller, also notably endorsed Patel, Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Tuesday. Patel helped oversee a military mission in 2019 that killed ISIS leader al-Baghdadi, who was believed to have repeatedly tortured and raped Kayla Mueller before her death in 2015. 

Patel "loves his country. He loves the people of this country," Marsha Mueller told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview via Zoom on Monday morning. "To us, you know, he is a person that we would go to for help. And he is so action oriented." 

"Just like Trump," Carl Mueller added to his wife's comments on Patel's action-motivated personality.

Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A nationwide group of former Federal Bureau of Investigation agents has sent a letter to Senate leadership in support of Trump FBI Director nominee Kash Patel making the case that the bureau is "broken" and in desperate need of a new direction. 

"As a group of retired FBI Special Agents and former Intelligence Analysts from across the country dedicated to restoring public trust in the FBI and returning the FBI to its original mission, we support President Trump’s nomination of Kash Patel as the FBI’s next Director," the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital and signed by over 50 former and retired FBI agents from Reform The Bureau, said.

The letter was sent to Republican Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Dick Durbin and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

"Many Americans have lost faith in the FBI, and for good reason," the letter explains. "The FBI is broken. And with this loss of trust has come a rise in threats at home and abroad. Drug cartels and Mexican gangs have taken control of the border and have infiltrated cities across the country bringing violent crime and drugs with them. At the same time, China has grown more brazen, engaging in espionage that robs U.S. businesses of their intellectual property and undermines our national security."

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"Terrorist groups are on the rise again in the Middle East, with unknown numbers having flooded into our country over the past four years through a wide-open border. Just as these many, varied threats have increased, the FBI has been used as a tool in the weaponization of the Department of Justice to go after its political enemies. Lives have been shattered and the targets of these weaponized investigations have been forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own personal funds to defend themselves and their reputations. This needs to stop."

The former agents wrote that the bureau is in "desperate need of a highly capable, non-partisan, and legally compliant FBI it can trust" right now "more than ever" and made the case that Patel is the person to make that a reality.

The letter explained that as both a public defender and prosecutor, Patel has "operated on both sides of the justice system," which gives him a "unique perspective" to understand the need to both enforce the law and respect the rights of the accused.

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"As a former congressional aide, he understands the importance of congressional oversight and the need for the FBI to be responsive and transparent to members of Congress as they perform this important function," the letter states. "And as a former Executive Branch national security official who has served at the National Security Council, at the Directorate of Intelligence, and at the Pentagon, he understands the scope of national security threats our country faces. Mr. Patel also understands how organizations such as the FBI function and collaborate with other agencies to keep America safe, and the need for highly capable but legally compliant agencies to take on these threats and protect the American people.

"Never has the FBI faced such an urgent and compelling need for comprehensive reform as it does today. Mr. Patel has proven he possesses the breadth of experience required to address these challenges. His leadership, expertise, and vision make him uniquely qualified to guide the FBI through this pivotal moment. For these reasons, we stand in full support of Kash Patel’s nomination."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Patel spokesperson Erica Knight said, "The endorsement from these former FBI agents and intelligence analysts underscores what so many Americans already know — Kash Patel is the principled leader we need to restore trust in the FBI and refocus it on its core mission of protecting the American people."

Patel is set to join the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday as the final leg of his nomination process kicks off in earnest. Patel has been on Capitol Hill meeting with Senate lawmakers to rally support for his nomination, earning praise from conservative lawmakers such as Tennessee Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, as well as endorsements from key law enforcement groups, such as the National Sheriffs' Association. 

Patel is expected to face an uphill battle overall to secure the nomination, as Democrats balk that he lacks the qualifications to lead the law enforcement agency and would politicize the agency.  

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.