Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that since much of Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing so far has focused on President Donald Trump’s clemency grants to people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, “it’s important that we remind people at the same time of some pardons by the previous administration.”

Patel’s mother and father are Indian Gujarati immigrants who moved to Canada in the 1970s from Uganda, East Africa, after facing ethnic repression. They later moved to the U.S., and Patel’s father reportedly landed a job at an aviation firm working as a financial officer.

Kash Patel, nominee to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC on January 30, 2025. Credit - Photo by Nathan Posner—Anadolu/ Getty Images)