Democrats are fuming over Kash Patel being President Donald Trump's pick as FBI director because they never envisioned being in this position, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Newsmax on Thursday.

Schmitt told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" that Democrats thought the political prosecutions of Trump engineered by former President Joe Biden and former Attorney General Merrick Garland would succeed to keep Trump out of the White House for a second term. But Trump won in November, and he wants Patel to reform the FBI to where it's no longer a political tool of the Department of Justice.

"We just got through four years of the Department of Justice and the FBI specifically going after political opponents," said Schmitt, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held Patel's confirmation hearing Thursday. "And they tried to jail their chief political opponent, Donald Trump. I made the point that one of the reasons why they had a hard time coming to grips with this is that they can't believe the position they're in.

"They thought they were going to take President Trump out. They thought they would financially ruin him. They thought he'd be in jail right now. And to have Kash Patel now on the other side of that table to lead the FBI in a reform movement, they can't handle it. But reform is coming, and that's a good thing."

Schmitt said Democrats are just "projecting" when they evoke fears that Patel will weaponize the FBI to go after Trump's political opponents the way Biden's DOJ went after Trump and his allies.

"They know what they did, and we've got to get the FBI back to its core mission now of fighting crime," Schmitt said. "Look, we have fentanyl streaming across our southern border. We have cities that have serious crime issues.

"The opening and closing argument for the Democrats [the] last four years was that President Trump and Make America Great Again, and half the country was a threat to democracy. The American people in that jury box [in November] delivered their own verdict. They rejected those arguments. They want reform. And now Kash Patel gets to deliver on that. I'm excited to see it."

About NEWSMAX TV:

NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!

• Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
• Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com

• Sen. Britt to Newsmax: Kash Patel 'Right Man' for FBI Post
• Kash Patel: No 'Enemies List,' Won't Seek Retribution