Kash Patel Denies Lying and Excessive Drinking in Heated Exchanges With Democrats
Kash Patel, the FBI director, provided a sequence of offended, insult-laden denials to Democratic legislators on Tuesday in response to questions on his conduct, together with whether or not he drank to extra, pressured subordinates to take polygraph exams and made false statements to Congress.
The remarks, delivered at a listening to ostensibly concerning the coming price range for the FBI and different legislation enforcement companies, veered from sedate exchanges about operational issues to ugly private confrontations, significantly between Mr. Patel and Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland.
“You are a disgrace, Mr. Director,” the senator declared towards the top of the listening to.
Mr. Van Hollen had pressed Mr. Patel about an article in The Atlantic that asserted that the FBI director drank a lot that it raised issues about his capacity to do his job or be reached rapidly in a disaster. Mr. Patel has vehemently denied these claims, submitting a defamation suit over the article.
“I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations,” Mr. Patel mentioned angrily. The director went on to accuse Mr. Van Hollen of inappropriate consuming, pointing to a visit the senator made to El Salvador last April to satisfy Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an immigrant the Trump administration mistakenly despatched from Maryland to a high-security overseas jail.
“The only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang-banging rapist was you,” Mr. Patel charged.
Photographs from the assembly taken by the Salvadoran authorities present what look like combined drinks on the desk the place Mr. Van Hollen and Mr. Abrego Garcia met. Mr. Van Hollen you have long said that authorities officers positioned the drinks there to make Mr. Abrego Garcia’s life as a prisoner look much less punishing.
Mr. Patel’s accusation additionally mischaracterized Mr. Abrego Garcia, who has by no means been convicted of a intercourse crime or of being a part of a gang. He briefly had a restraining order in opposition to him.
Mr. Van Hollen shook his head on the FBI director’s claims. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” the senator mentioned.
He kind of dared Mr. Patel to take a kind of questionnaire used to assist decide if an individual has a consuming downside.
Mr. Patel instantly accepted the problem, saying he would take one if the senator would additionally achieve this.
“Let’s go, side by side,” Mr. Patel mentioned defiantly.
Mr. Patel’s heated exchanges have been harking back to his former boss, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and his tendency to answer troublesome questions at congressional hearings with insults and criticism of legislators. Ms. Bondi was fired by President Trump final month.
Other exchanges Mr. Patel had with Democrats on Tuesday have been hostile however not vitriolic.
Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, mentioned she had “deep concern” about Mr. Patel’s management expertise, noting he had been videotaped guzzling a beer and celebrating with the US males’s hockey staff in Milan after he gained Olympic gold.
“If you want to pass out liquor or pop bottles in a locker room, stick to podcasting,” Ms. Murray mentioned, referring to Mr. Patel’s earlier profession.
In response, Mr. Patel held up a sheet of arrest and crime statistics. Murders in the United States fell by roughly 20 % in 2025, and Mr. Patel cited that statistic and others to argue that the bureau had carried out nicely below his management.
Republicans largely praised the FBI director. Senator Katie Britt thanked him effusively for the bureau’s work in her house state of Alabama.
Mr. Patel denied stories that he had pressured subordinates to bear polygraph examinations in an effort to search out out who had leaked tales about his administration. “I don’t order any polygraph tests,” he insisted. Multiple individuals conversant in these inside investigations have mentioned they have been ordered by the director.
Mr. Van Hollen used his remaining salvo to immediately accuse Mr. Patel of deceptive Congress.
“You made a couple provably false statements,” Mr. Van Hollen mentioned, referring to Mr. Patel’s earlier claims about assembly Mr. Abrego Garcia in El Salvador. “Coming from the mouth of an FBI director, to make provably false statements in a hearing like this is extremely troubling.”
He requested: “Do you know that it is a crime to lie to Congress?”
“I have not lied to Congress,” Mr. Patel replied.
