Republican U.S. Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota spoke about President-elect Donald Trump‘s decision to nominate Kash Patel for the job of FBI Director on the ABC political talk show, This Week.
Rounds, also a former Governor of South Dakota, called the current FBI Director Christopher Wray “a very good man” and said, “I don’t have any complaints about the way that he’s done his job right now.”
[Note: The lifelong Republican Wray, who is serving a 10-year term, was nominated by Trump during his first administration. The FBI Director position is designed as a 10-year-term to avoid the politicization of the Bureau as a result of administration turnover.]
Ingraham shared a clip from the interview and responded: “I think Sen. Rounds should go home and make these points at a town meeting in front of his constituents.”
I think Sen. Rounds should go home and make these points at a town meeting in front of his constituents. https://t.co/MvhDhga0ZL
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) December 1, 2024
Note: When Rounds said the 2020 presidential election was fair, Trump called Rounds a “jerk”, “crazy” and “stupid” and accused him of being “woke” for accepting the election results.
Ingraham’s fellow Fox News star Tomi Lahren (a South Dakota native) replied to Ingraham’s comment about Rounds by writing: “South Dakotans don’t like him or Thune or Noem. We are embarrassed.” (While political winds can shift quickly, Lahren’s sentiment is not supported by recent election results, as all three Republican politicians she names currently hold elected office in the state.)
Thune is the senior senator from South Dakota who was just elected the Senate majority leader and Senate Republican leader replacing Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a job which will be key to vetting Trump’s cabinet nominees including current South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who the President-elect has nominated for Secretary of Homeland Security.