The nominee for F.B.I. director made his nonprofit into a publicity machine, selling his children’s book, his clothing brand and his image as Donald Trump’s ultimate loyalist.

Later, speaking from the Senate floor, Durbin expressed “grave concerns” about Patel’s fitness to lead the F.B.I., calling him a “staunch political loyalist who has repeatedly peddled false conspiracy theories and threatened to retaliate against those who have slighted him personally and politically.