CNN’s Jake Tapper Confronts a GOP Senator With Clip of Trump’s FBI Pick Kash Patel Calling for a ‘Museum of the Deep State’ to Replace the Hoover Building

CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted a Republican Senator who has called for quick confirmations for President-elect Donald Trump’s national security nominees with footage of one announced nominee’s controversial plans for the FBI.

In an interview with Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Tapper played video of Trump’s FBI Director pick Kash Patel pledging to immediately shutter the Hoover Building and open a “museum of the deep state” in its place.

“The FBI footprint has gotten so frickin’ big,” Patel said. “And the biggest problem the FBI has had has come out of its Intel shops. I’d break that component out of it. I’d shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the Deep State. And I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals. Go be cops.”

“A lot of the people he’s talking about, the 7,000 employees that work in the building are right now chasing down criminals, chasing down terrorists, investigating what happened in New Orleans, trying to make sure nothing like that happens again,” Tapper told Banks. “What’s your reaction to that?”

“I think Kash is right,” Senator Banks replied. :I mean, the last four years we’ve seen the leadership of the FBI be more focused on the political causes of the Left, going after parents at school board meetings instead of going after and investigating ISIS members in America. [Bourbon Street attack suspect Shamsud-Din] Jabbar in New Orleans had ISIS content on his social media account. We should have we should have been more aware of that and plan to stop that attack from happening and going after him. And instead, the FBI has become way too bureaucratic, way too political, and Kash Patel is going to be a big part of cleaning it up.”

From there, Tapper asked Banks about another of Trump’s announced nominees — Secretary of Defense pick Pete Hegseth.

“Trump’s Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth is going to appear before your committee on the 14th,” Tapper said to Banks — who is a member of the Senate Armed Services committee. “ABC News reports the bipartisan leaders of your committee have requested more information about the 2017 sexual assault allegation against him — which, we should note, he denies. And he was never charged with anything. Your colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham, has said he have pledged to release his accuser from the confidentiality agreement. Has the committee been able to speak to this woman? And if not, do you want to?”

Banks punted on the question, but threw his full support behind Hegseth.

“I’m brand new to the committee,” Banks said. “We haven’t had a single meeting yet. We have the hearing in a week with Pete Hegseth. I look forward to it. I fully support Pete Hegseth. He is eminently more qualified than Secretary [Lloyd] Austin who’s in the job, who disappeared on the job, who instructed the disastrous deadly withdrawal of Afghanistan and created a woke political mess at the Pentago. That Pete Hegseth is going to clean up. Pete is a decorated combat veteran, served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He knows what’s at stake. I fully support him. He’s going to be great at the job.”

Watch above, via CNN.