WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday accused Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, of improperly directing a wave of firings at the bureau without having been confirmed as its leader.

In a letter to the Justice Department’s inspector general, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois cited “highly credible information from multiple sources” that suggested Patel had been personally involved in covertly orchestrating a purge of career officials at the FBI.

“This alleged misconduct is beyond the pale and must be investigated immediately,” Durbin wrote to the independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz. The accusation comes as the committee prepares to vote Thursday on whether to send Patel’s nomination to the Senate floor. Durbin said that if the allegations were true, then the acting No. 2 at the Justice Department, Emil Bove, fired career civil servants “solely at the behest of a private citizen,” and also that Patel “may have perjured himself” at his confirmation hearing last month.

— The New York Times