Former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Newsmax on Thursday that he expects the Senate to confirm Kash Patel as President Donald Trump's FBI director, even after a contentious hearing earlier in the day with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Nunes, who is CEO of Trump Media Group, hired Patel as senior counsel to help the House Intelligence Committee, which Nunes chaired, investigate the Russia collusion scandal. Patel exposed abuses that led to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants issued to surveil Carter Page, an adviser with Trump's 2016 campaign, based on what the FBI knew was faulty intelligence.

"The president of the United States, when you follow the Constitution, which we all believe in, President Trump won the election," Nunes told "Finnerty." "He has the right to put in whoever he wants as an FBI director, as long as they go through the process and pass all the normal checks, and Kash passes all of those tests."

Nunes said Democrats might not like Patel's world views, but that does not disqualify him from being the FBI director.

"He has proven that he is willing to follow the facts wherever they lead," Nunes said. "And I can tell you that when he joined my team back in 2017, at the height of the Russia hoax hypocrisy, remember at that time nobody knew that it was a hoax. I mean, I knew it was a hoax because I had access to all the intelligence that showed that there was no interaction between Trump and Republicans and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. In fact, we knew it was the Democrats at that time.

"But when Kash came to work for us, one of his objectives was, look, we're going to follow the facts. And if we do find any Republicans that are doing anything with the Russians, we're going to call it like we see it. And Kash and I view the world the same way, as you know. I was never afraid to take on the Democrats or the far left, but I also took on Republicans in my own party for many years. So, Kash is the same way."

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