Trump's FBI pick gains Senate support

Donald Trump's contentious nominee for FBI director has received a major boost in his bid to take on the role after crucial Senate Republicans looked set to give him their backing.

- Hugo Lowell

Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist and firebrand critic of the FBI who has called for the firing of its top ranks to eradicate "government tyranny", has broadly secured support from Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee, it is understood.

Getting the green light from the key committee would make it much harder for any skeptics within the party to oppose him later when it comes to the wider Senate voting on his confirmation, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Trump's aides working on the controversial nominations all see the same handful of senators as potential hurdles, the people said: Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins - longtime senators with whom Trump has little leverage and are difficult to control.

In Patel's case, his team would make the argument that McConnell should trust the judiciary committee if it backs the nomination, the sources said.