The documents, as reported by the NYT, also clarify Patel’s early career. Born to immigrant parents from Gujarat, Patel grew up on Long Island, worked as a caddy, and later spent years as both a local and federal public defender in Florida.

Kash Patel did not seek to sway Senator Dick Durbin’s decision to withhold his support for Patel’s nomination as head of the FBI. The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee declared, with evident finality,