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FBI Director Kash Patel sparred with senators on Tuesday over recent revisions the FBI made to its hiring policies, including a policy on applicants who may have engaged in bestiality.
The exchange first occurred with Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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exchange → sign → Committee
'Thank you for bringing this up, so we can get to the truth of the matter,' Patel told Durbin.
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Patel → thank → Durbin
'What we did was, we did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked.
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who → want → bestiality
'We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you if you are a victim of these awful, heinous acts.
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you → want → acts
They still have to go to the same rigorous standards and application process,' Patel said.
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Patel → have → standards
The FBI in June revised screening rules so that an admission of bestiality is no longer an automatic disqualification.
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admission → revise → bestiality
Patel's response prompted a follow-up from Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana.
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response → prompt → Louisiana
'Either side of bestiality?' Kennedy asked Patel, adding: 'So you disqualified the animal?
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you → ask → animal
'
'Well, we have great canines, but we're not going to disqualify them,' Patel said.
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Patel → have → them
FBI Director Kash Patel arrives to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on FBI oversight on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
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Patel → arrive → Washington
Attorney General Todd Blanche listens as FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, DC
A giant portrait of President Donald Trump looks down from the Justice Department in Washington, DC
'I'm trying to understand why you did this.
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you → listen → this
Why did you get into bestiality?' Kennedy asked again.
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Kennedy → get → bestiality
The eye-popping exchange came at the start of an hours-long, high-octane oversight hearing Tuesday.
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exchange → pop → hearing
The morning played out like a split-screen of sorts, as Patel and Republicans touted the bureau's recent wins on violent crime and drug trafficking, while Democrats excoriated Patel for undoing 'decades' of efforts to modernize and reform the FBI.
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Democrats → play → FBI
Durbin, for his part, blasted Patel as the 'least qualified and most partisan FBI director in US history.
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Durbin → blast → history
Now, Durbin said, the FBI 'has been reshaped as a political weapon against President Trump's political enemies.'
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FBI → say → enemies
Patel, for his part, sought to play up the bureau's achievements under Trump's second term - including its crackdown on violent crime, fraud, drug trafficking, and cybercrime.
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Patel → seek → crime
The FBI 'has been rebuilt to combat violent crime,' he said Tuesday, noting that in the last year, the FBI ‘prepared for the largest influx of tourists between the Club World Cup, two F1 races, [and] protected 300,000 Americans in the Olympics.’
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FBI → rebuild → Olympics
‘Not one single security incident occurred at any single one of these events,’ Patel said.
‘No major security incidents.
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Patel → occur → events
With our partners, this is how we keep America safe.
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we → keep → America
Republicans on the panel, including Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, attempted to keep the focus of Patel’s remarks on playing up recent FBI wins.
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Republicans → include → wins
Total criminal arrests are up 80 percent from 18 months ago, Grassley said in his opening remarks, while violent crime arrests are up 90 percent.
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arrests → say → remarks
'The numbers show that you've gotten the job done,' he told Patel.
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he → show → Patel
But Democrats used their time to paint a very different picture of the FBI under Trump - one they've argued has been ‘weaponized’ by Patel and other top brass at the bureau to purge many FBI agents who investigated Trump or the January 6, 2021 US Capitol riot.
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who → use → Trump
The last time Patel appeared before the panel for an oversight hearing, 12 months prior, Patel accused Democrats of ‘grandstanding’ and attempting to score political points in their questions - while they, in turn, leveled barbs of their own.
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they → appear → own
‘You lied to us,’ Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, told Patel last year, citing Patel's previous assurances during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would not move to summarily fire FBI agents involved in the January 6 investigation and other investigations blasted by Trump.
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he → lie → Trump
‘You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate,’ Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, told Patel then, as the two sparred in a near-shouting match.
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two → sit → match
‘You are a disgrace to this institution, and you are an utter coward,’ he said.
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he → say → institution
This is a developing news story.
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This → develop → ?
The Aporia
