What's happening
• FBI Director Kash Patel is testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing.
• Patel has fielded questions on FBI hiring standards — including why the bureau no longer automatically disqualifies some job applicants who allegedly committed crimes like soliciting prostitution and engaging in bestiality.
• He has also touted crime rates, as well as addressed questions about violence during immigration operations and some documents in the Epstein files not being released.
• Patel has come under criticism over allegations of excessive drinking, his use of FBI resources, partying with the US men’s hockey team during the Olympics and purging agents linked to Trump probes. The FBI director previously said he’s “never been intoxicated on the job,” defending his actions while in his position and suing The Atlantic over its reporting.
Sen. Booker calls Patel a "thug," alleging the FBI investigated journalists
FBI Director Kash Patel grew heated after New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker asked about his agency allegedly investigating journalists, including a New York Times reporter who earlier this year wrote about Patel’s girlfriend being “escorted by an FBI SWAT team.”
Asked if FBI agents interviewed Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, or if they ran reporter Elizabeth Williamson’s name through federal databases to gather information about her, Patel did not answer.
“You can say whatever lies you want. We’re not going to participate,” Patel said.
Booker accused Patel of “using resources from the FBI in a way that he’s not willing to be transparent and open about,” also accusing the FBI director of attacking the press.
The senator also referenced the Trump administration’s subpoenaing of New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns around a Qatari-gifted jet serving as the new Air Force One, highlighting that this is something that Patel does “often.”
Patel said that his agency was not targeting journalists, accusing Booker of mischaracterizing.
In response, Booker said that “senators on both sides of the aisle should have to know why are you using FBI resources in ways that benefit yourself and your family and your girlfriend. But you won’t even answer questions.”
Patel says there are extensive AI safeguards at the FBI
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau has a “ton” of safeguards in place to ensure artificial intelligence models do not “break free” from their intended purposes.
“We don’t just bring in AI and let it run loose,” the director said in response to a question from Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla.
Patel said any AI models used within the FBI are subjected to feedback and reviews to see whether they abide by FBI and Justice Department policies, and the law.
“We’re going to continue that effort every time an AI system comes in,” Patel said. “That’s the exact pattern that we execute at the FBI to make sure there’s no breaking free, for lack of a better phrase, of AI to run rampant.”
Patel again says there's no evidence of Butler assassination conspiracy
Following a social media post from President Donald Trump calling into question the FBI’s investigation into the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, FBI Director Kash Patel again reiterated there was no evidence the shooter was working with others.
“I think we looked at some 27 devices, exfiltrated all the data off of them, looked for connections to individuals in America and overseas,” Patel said of the investigation into the shooter’s devices. “We found no evidence that that individual was literally even speaking to any other human being other than his parents, who he resided with.”
But Patel’s attempt to squash conspiracy theories comes amid a continued release over the past several months of documents, using the Freedom of Information Act, related to the investigation.
“Everybody knows the Crooked Joe Biden FBI didn’t do what they should have with respect to the Lunatic who shot me in Butler, PA,” Trump posted on Tuesday, alleging that information around the shooting was “missing, altered, corrupted, or gone” and had newly been uncovered.
Trump oddly suggested the documents were part of a “Democrat Plot, to get me out of the Election.”
Congressional investigations, as well as those led by the Secret Service, FBI, and an independent panel, have all come to the same conclusion: The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, acted alone and was able to bypass security through clear human error on the part of federal and local law enforcement.
The FBI has also had to push back on the conspiracies born from the newly released documents in the past.
Sen. Welch presses Patel on trip to Italy during Olympics
Following a heated response from FBI Director Kash Patel to a question about media reports alleging that he drinks to excess, Vermont Democratic Sen. Peter Welch asked the agency head about his trip to Italy during the Olympics earlier this year.
Back in February, Patel garnered criticism after he was seen celebrating with the US men’s hockey team in Milan after their historic gold medal win over Canada, having traveled to Italy in a government plane.
Welch noted a post-9/11 government regulation that requires the FBI director to use government aircraft for all travel, including personal trips, but asked why Patel was in Italy in the first place.
Patel had “a dinner with the ambassador, an hour with Italy counterpart operatives, three 20-minute meetings, a security briefing and a 30-minute tour over four days, and then you barged into the celebration of our winning Olympic team,” Welch said.
Patel said that the US men’s hockey team, who he called his “friends,” invited him into their locker room to celebrate with them.
The FBI director also reiterated that while he was in Italy, his agency arranged to have a “top cybercriminal” from the Chinese Communist Party deported to the US instead of going back to China.
Patel declines to discuss Georgia election probe, citing ongoing investigation
FBI Director Kash Patel declined to discuss his bureau’s ongoing probe into the 2020 election results in Georgia, citing the ongoing investigation.
CNN previously reported that the FBI had assigned 260 staffers to investigate the 2020 results in Georgia, where President Donald Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed election victory in 2020. The elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, was raided by the FBI earlier this year as part of that probe.
Questioned by Vermont Democratic Sen. Peter Welch during today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Patel declined to comment on the progress of that investigation because “the matter is ongoing.”
But Patel in the past has frequently commented on ongoing investigations.
He was confronted earlier in the hearing for his premature comments following shootings involving federal immigration officers this year. He has also been previously criticized for early, and ultimately false, initial statements he made after the shooting of Charlie Kirk and a shooting on the Brown University campus.
FBI director says firing of experts on Iran threats was over their past "weaponization"
FBI Director Kash Patel reinforced to senators Tuesday that a dozen agents and staff members who were experts on Iranian threats were fired earlier this year because of their alleged “weaponization” efforts.
The officials were fired in late February, sources told CNN, just days before the United States launched a major military operation in Iran. They were ousted because of their involvement in the investigation of President Donald Trump’s alleged retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, CNN previously reported.
“Individuals that have been removed were removed for reasons that they basically failed to meet the standard of the FBI,” Patel said of the dismissals. In some previous public testimony, he has denied knowing that the fired employees were focused on Iran threats.
“The reports were that they were fired because they worked on the classified documents investigation involving President Trump,” Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked. “Do you think firing the president’s political opponents is more important than retaining the decades of experience and expertise monitoring intelligence threats from Iran?”
Patel responded, “I think what’s most important is not have a weaponized FBI, and I will endeavor every single day to make sure we have no one there that is doing that.”
Watch more on CNN’s previous reporting:
Just days before the United States launched a major military operation in Iran, FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen agents and staff members from a counterintelligence unit tasked with monitoring threats from Iran, according to two sources familiar with the matter. CNN's Evan Perez reports.
Patel dodges questions on reporting that oligarch funded Trump Jr.'s wedding celebration
FBI Director Kash Patel dodged questions from Sen. Richard Blumenthal over reporting that a Russian oligarch funded part of Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding celebrations.
ProPublica reported on Monday that the oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the lavish celebrations. Kremlev, the president of the International Boxing Association, is a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
Trump Jr.’s wife, Bettina Anderson, confirmed the reporting in a post to Instagram where she described Kremlev as their “dear friend” who “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations” for the couple after their May wedding.
“It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful,” Anderson wrote.
Blumenthal asked Patel what steps his agency is taking to investigate Kremlev’s funding of the celebrations. Patel responded that “public reporting is generally inaccurate” and instead touted the bureau’s counterintelligence missions.
Whitehouse confronts Patel about withholding of some Epstein files
Nine months after the first batch of the Epstein files were publicly released, FBI Director Kash Patel continues to face questions about what was, and was not, contained in those files.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse questioned Patel about 37 pages that were withheld from the public release. Whitehouse specifically asked about “302” forms that the agency uses to memorialize interviews with witnesses.
CNN previously reported that dozens of FBI records were missing from the initial public release of the documents, including three interviews that were related to a woman who accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her decades ago.
The Justice Department later released some of those documents, but Whitehouse, during today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, said not all have been made public.
Trump has long denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein or any allegation of sexual misconduct.
Patel said he wasn’t aware of the 37 pages that Whitehouse was referencing.
“We have complied with the statute and the court orders and produced three and a half million pages of documents for the first time ever,” the director said.
Senators push Patel to explain FBI hiring standards for those accused of bestiality
FBI Director Kash Patel was challenged Tuesday about why the bureau no longer automatically disqualifies some job applicants who allegedly committed crimes like soliciting prostitution and engaging in bestiality.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durban began those challenges, asking Patel whether he believes those individuals are “qualified candidates that the FBI is losing?”
But his answer only invited additional questions, including from Republicans.
Under questioning from Republican Sen. John Kennedy, Patel said that the change only applies if you were “forced” into participating in those crimes.
Bestiality is sexual activity between a human and an animal.
Patel responded: “In a lot of these cases, when human traffickers — who are some of the worst individuals on planet Earth — they don’t just traffic you for prostitution. They traffic you for degrading acts of all kind, and they force you into that type of conduct.”
Durbin grills Patel on violence during immigration operations
Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked FBI Director Kash Patel about violence during immigration operations that took place last year.
“One year ago, my home state of Illinois was experiencing the beginning of a ruthless, reckless, deadly campaign orchestrated by this administration, known as Midway Blitz,” Durbin said.
Durbin referenced the shooting of US citizen Marimar Martinez by a Customs and Border Protection agent in October, as well as the fatal shooting of Mexican national Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in September 2025.
The Department of Homeland Security, Durbin said, “branded (Martinez) as a domestic terrorist,” while an FBI agent “falsely claimed” that she had chased a border patrol agent before she was shot.
After the shooting of Martinez, Patel also reposted a video of a separate collision that was not related to Martinez, though the initial poster claimed that it was.
In his repost of the video, Patel wrote: “Attack our law enforcement, and this FBI will find you and bring you to justice.”
Durbin asked Patel if he stood by those “false statements.” Patel denied that they were false.
The senator also asked why the FBI had not investigated these shootings, to which the agency director said that “investigations are currently ongoing.”
Patel focuses his opening statement on crime reduction
In his opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Kash Patel touted the casework of the bureau and stayed away from political infighting.
Patel has attempted to focus his recent public statements on the traditional work of the bureau, despite mounting public backlash over his moves atop the bureau. The FBI has seen the ousting of several career employees for their work on cases against the president, as well as agents who were experts in national security measures.
He continued to follow this strategy Tuesday. Violent crime rates have dramatically reduced in the country, Patel said, and the FBI has seized more than 3,000 kilograms of fentanyl. He also touted the disruption of planned mass-casualty attacks, like an alleged plot to attack the UFC White House fight over this summer.
The FBI has worked with agencies abroad, Patel said, including for the World Cup.
Some of the biggest controversies surrounding Patel as head of the FBI
Since he took office as FBI director in February 2025, Kash Patel has been no stranger to controversies and criticism over his leadership.
Here are some of the topics that lawmakers could bring up today in the hearing:
- Allegations of excessive drinking: In April, Patel publicly addressed allegations that he has drank to excess and it interfered with his duties. “I’ve never been intoxicated on the job,” he said. He sued The Atlantic and a reporter over a story that alleged Patel has “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”
- Celebrations at the Olympics: After the US men’s hockey team clinched gold in the Winter Olympics in Italy, Patel — a longtime hockey fan — was seen on video chugging a beer before raising the bottle in the air, spraying it across the locker room. According to the FBI, Patel was in Italy for multiple official engagements, traveling to Milan on a DOJ jet, which sparked public criticism but is required for the FBI director.
- Purge of agents linked to Trump probes: Brian Driscoll — a former FBI special agent and acting director of the FBI for a month before Patel was confirmed — told CNN in May about a White House-directed purge of the FBI aimed at punishing or removing employees involved in investigations into the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot as well as the probe into President Donald Trump’s possession of classified documents after his first term.
- Investigation of Charlie Kirk’s death: Hours after right-wing activist Kirk was shot and died in September 2025, Patel posted that a “subject” was in custody, a claim he had to walk back less than two hours later. Some FBI employees told CNN they found it galling for Patel to claim personal credit for the most successful parts of the investigation. Others found it ironic that Patel thanked some of the bureau’s support staff key to investigations — since he has overseen moves to decimate those ranks.
- Epstein files: In a House Judiciary hearing last September, Patel testified on the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The hearing became heated at times, with several shouting matches.
In June, former agents set up their own group to help those struggling under Patel’s leadership. Watch more about it here:
CNN’s Holmes Lybrand, Brian Stelter, Paula Reid, Katelyn Polantz, Evan Perez, Isabelle Khurshudyan, Anderson Cooper, Hannah Rabinowitz, Jeremey Herb, Kristen Holmes and Aaron Blake all contributed reporting to this post.
Patel preemptively strikes back at Democratic senator on social media
Before his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee began, FBI Director Kash Patel took to X Monday to preemptively strike back at a Democratic senator who has criticized the FBI director for his travel on a taxpayer-funded plane.
The issue was a key focus for Democratic senators when Patel testified in front of a Senate committee earlier this year, and Democrats like Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse have continued to accuse Patel of misusing the plane for his own personal benefit.
In an August video, Whitehouse pointed to Patel’s previous criticism of former FBI Director Chris Wray’s for using a “government funded G5 jet to go on vacation.”
“And then he got FBI director, and next thing you know he’s off at Boondoggle Ranch,” Whitehouse said, referring to a trip Patel took.
Patel wrote back last night: “See you tomorrow Senator.”
Remember: A post-9/11 government regulation requires the attorney general — and since 2011, the FBI director — to use government aircraft for all travel, including personal trips.
The reason for the policy, according to the Justice Department, is that the president and other top officials must always have secure communications available with the FBI director and attorney general, in case of national security or other emergencies.
Earlier this year, Senate Judiciary committee chair asked Patel about travel and spending
In July, CNN reported that Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley asked FBI Director Kash Patel to defend his use of FBI aircraft and purchase of BMWs, according to a letter obtained by House and Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats and reviewed by CNN.
In the May letter, Grassley asked Patel to list each flight he took on an FBI aircraft, the share their cost, and whether the flights were for personal or official purposes. If a flight was for a personal reason, Grassley asked Patel if he has reimbursed the government. The Republican chairman also pressed Patel to provide a cost analysis breakdown of the BMW purchases compared to a similar Chevy suburban and outline the fuel and storage comparisons.
Why FBI directors must take government planes: A post-9/11 government regulation requires the attorney general and, since 2011, the FBI director to use a government aircraft for all travel, including personal trips.
Patel’s trips to Nashville and other locations to visit his girlfriend, a golfing destination with friends and to attend hockey games have prompted criticism from Democrats who have demanded the FBI provide information about the use of resources.
Grassley for years has been a critic on the issue of using government jets for personal travel. The Iowa senator wrote letters and excoriated former Attorney General Eric Holder and former FBI Director Chris Wray for their use of the FBI aircraft. But at a hearing last fall where Democrats raised questions about Patel’s use of the plane, he took aim at Patel’s critics.
“I find it interesting that my Democratic colleagues seem to bring up your use of the Justice Department planes, yet my Democratic colleagues didn’t seem too interested about my oversight of Wray’s use of the plane,” he said.
The hearing has now started
FBI Director Kash Patel will testify shortly in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing.
Patel has come under criticism over allegations of excessive drinking, use of FBI resources and purging agents linked to Trump probes.
The last time he was in front of lawmakers was in May, where he sparred with Democrats when asked about the drinking allegations and a trip to Italy during the Olympics earlier this year.
What Kash Patel said about the FBI before he became head of the bureau
FBI Director Kash Patel is an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump and has been a controversial figure, both before and during his tenure leading the agency so far.
Before he was confirmed by the Senate, Patel heavily criticized the FBI and vowed to dismantle the agency. He called it the “prime functionary of the Deep State” in his book and suggested in a podcast that he would dismantle the FBI’s headquarters in DC on his first day, turning it into “a museum” for the crookedness he says he saw there.
Patel was raised Hindu by his immigrant parents, and spent several years as a public defender in Florida. He went on to work as a federal prosecutor in the National Security Division of the DOJ.
Then in 2019, Patel went to work for Trump on the National Security Council before becoming chief of staff to acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller at the end of Trump’s first term.
During his time in the first administration, he repeated Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being stolen and said that the Department of Justice would go after the president’s enemies.
CNN’s Evan Perez, Zachary Cohen and Holmes Lybrand contributed reporting.
Here's what happened during FBI Director Kash Patel’s last Senate hearing
The last time FBI Director Kash Patel appeared at a Senate hearing, he was pressed over reports of his alleged behavior on the job, including about media reports alleging that he drinks to excess.
The hearing took place in May, weeks after The Atlantic published a story alleging that Patel has “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.” Patel has since sued The Atlantic, calling the reporting false and saying he has never been drunk at work.
Here’s a look at what else went down during that Senate hearing:
- Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked if Patel would take a test — instituted in the military — to measure whether someone has a drinking problem. “I’ll take any test you’re willing to,” Patel said.
- Patel was also asked by Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, about the cost and importance of his trip to Italy in February, during which Patel was captured drinking and celebrating with the gold-medal-winning US men’s hockey team.
- The FBI director said that, while in Italy, his agency arranged to have a “top cybercriminal” from the Chinese Communist Party deported to the US instead of going back to China.
- Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, asked how many FBI agents had been reassigned to immigration operations amid the Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement. Patel said he didn’t have a number and insisted no agent had been permanently assigned to immigration.
See the exchange with Van Hollen here:
FBI Director Kash Patel clashed with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen on Tuesday when asked about media reports that allege he drinks in excess. The Atlantic recently published a story alleging Patel "has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences," and Patel has since sued the Atlantic, calling the reports false. During the exchange, Patel fired back, accusing the lawmaker of being the “only person that ran up a $7,000 bar tab in Washington, D.C. at the Lobby Bar.”
CNN’s Catherine Nicholls contributed to this reporting.
Kash Patel will testify before Senate committee on FBI oversight this morning
Today’s Senate hearing on the oversight of the FBI will be starting in less than an hour, at 9 a.m. ET. FBI Director Kash Patel will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the hearing.
Patel was confirmed as FBI director in February 2025, in a 51 to 49 Senate vote.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Patel said there would be “no politicization” at the FBI and “no retributive actions.” He also accused Democrats of cherry-picking excerpts of old comments.
Patel, a former public defender, was raised Hindu by his immigrant parents, according to his 2023 book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.”
He wrote that he grew up apolitical but became more right-wing during his time at the University of Richmond.
Patel spent stints in the public defender’s office in Miami-Dade County and in the Southern District of Florida before going on to work as a federal prosecutor in the National Security Division of the DOJ, according to his book.
He has also previously heavily criticized the FBI in the past.
In a 2024 podcast interview, before he became its director, he called for the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC, to be dismantled and turned into a “museum of the deep state.”
CNN’s Clare Foran, Morgan Rimmer and Jack Forrest contributed to this reporting.
