Cory Booker and Kash Patel clash at Senate oversight hearing

[0:00] How often do you speak to Stephen Miller? [0:03] Frequently on our Homeland Security Task Forces. [0:05] You frequently talk with Stephen Miller about subjects [0:08] other than Homeland Security Task Force issues, correct? [0:12] I frequently talk to Mr. Miller about Homeland Security Task [0:16] Forces. [0:18] Has Stephen Miller ever given you his opinions [0:21] on how to run your agency? [0:24] Mr. Miller's interagency operations [0:26] are invaluable to the FBI. [0:27] That's what we talk about. [0:28] So you frequently discuss your job and your responsibilities [0:31] with Stephen Miller and Pam Bondi, I imagine, as well. [0:34] Absolutely, she's the attorney general. [0:36] Understood. [0:37] OK, Donald Trump promised to make us all safer. [0:41] You have pushed out senior FBI agents [0:45] with decades of knowledge and experience. [0:46] In fact, this is the first time in FBI history [0:49] that neither the director nor the deputy director [0:52] have any experience with the FBI. [0:54] You've shifted the agency's priorities primarily [0:56] to pursuing Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agenda. [1:00] According to ICE data, the case [1:02] is that the Seattle Institute, which [1:04] is a conservative think tank, found that 20% of all agents [1:09] have been diverted from their work [1:10] to do assist ICE immigration enforcement, 20%. [1:15] Part of this operation is the work of mass law enforcement [1:20] who jump out of cars, snatch people off streets [1:22] at churches, schools, and their jobs and hospitals. [1:26] Have there been any FBI agents who [1:29] investigate crimes against children [1:31] that have been assigned to immigration enforcement? [1:33] Yes, sir. [1:33] No. [1:36] The premise of what you say is entirely false. [1:38] Have there been any FBI agents who investigate [1:41] foreign domestic terrorism? [1:42] You don't get to say that America is not [1:44] safer under this leadership. [1:45] I am not saying that. [1:45] America is safer because of the work of the FBI are doing. [1:48] You're making a presumption of premise. [1:50] 4,700 children. [1:52] We have seized 6,000 weapons and 23,000 violent felons [1:56] have been arrested. [1:56] You are not denying that FBI agents who [1:58] investigate human trafficking have been reassigned [2:00] to immigration enforcement. [2:01] You are not denying that FBI agents who are on the task force [2:05] that fights against human trafficking [2:05] fight against Russian oligarchs have not been reassigned. [2:08] Public corrections squad reassigned. [2:10] People who defend us defend children reassigned. [2:14] You're not denying that. [2:15] FBI agents don't get reassigned. [2:17] I've seen time and time again attack my colleagues' premises [2:20] of questions as a way to not answer the question. [2:23] So let me end with this. [2:25] I believe you have made our country weaker and less safe. [2:29] I believe that we are more vulnerable to a major event, [2:31] and I pray to God it doesn't happen. [2:34] You've gutted the Bureau of Institutional Knowledge [2:36] and Expertise. [2:37] You fired or pushed out seasoned FBI officials, [2:41] many with more than 20 years of experience, [2:44] and were working on cases that were critical. [2:47] You've been purging thousands of serious law enforcement [2:50] officials who spent their careers keeping us safe, [2:53] only to lower hiring standards in order [2:55] to find anyone to replace them. [2:58] And shockingly, you admitted in this hearing to Senator Coons [3:01] that it would take 14 years to fill [3:04] the vacancies at your agency. [3:06] Many are the result of your purge. [3:08] 20% of FBI agents are doing low-level immigration [3:13] enforcement instead of their mission-critical work. [3:16] You've disbanded entire task forces [3:19] that stop intellectual election interference, [3:21] foreign influence, public corruption. [3:24] And who benefits from this? [3:25] Well, corrupt people benefit from it. [3:27] Criminals benefit from it. [3:28] Vladimir Putin benefits from it. [3:31] And it really makes me wonder who you're looking out for. [3:34] It makes me think we can't trust you as a nation. [3:37] You swear to release the episode of the show, [3:39] but you don't have the Epstein files. [3:41] But now you're withholding the Epstein files. [3:43] You claim that you have a suspect in a serious assassination. [3:47] Whoops. [3:48] Then you don't have a suspect. [3:49] You know nothing about plans to remove FBI agents yet. [3:52] You're directly involved in those plans. [3:56] In the words of an ex-FBI official, [3:59] you are overseeing, and I quote, generational destruction [4:03] of the nation's premier law enforcement agency. [4:05] Mr. Patel, in just eight months, you [4:07] have assaulted the institutional integrity of the FBI. [4:11] I've worked with FBI field agents. [4:13] I've worked with them in Newark. [4:15] No matter how truly bad you are, you can't undermine the legacy [4:20] of agents who fight every day to keep us safe. [4:22] But you can tarnish the integrity of the agency [4:25] and undermine the agency's capacity. [4:27] I believe you're failing as a leader, [4:30] and that your failure does have serious implications [4:33] for the safety and security of Americans and our families. [4:36] We're more vulnerable to domestic and foreign attack [4:38] because of your failures of leadership. [4:40] I don't think you're fit to be on the bureau. [4:41] Here's the thing, Mr. Patel. [4:43] I think you're not going to be around long. [4:46] I think this might be your last oversight hearing. [4:48] Because as much as you supplicate yourself to the will of Donald Trump [4:52] and not the Constitution of the United States of America, [4:55] Donald Trump has shown us in his first term and in this term [4:58] he is not loyal to people like you. [5:01] He will cut you loose. [5:03] This may be the last time I have a hearing with you [5:05] because I don't think you're long for your job. [5:09] But I'm going to tell you this. [5:11] I pray for you. [5:12] I pray for you. [5:13] That you can step up and defend your oath, [5:16] defend the Constitution, [5:17] and do a much better job of defending this country. [5:21] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [5:22] Do you want to say anything? [5:25] Yes, sir. [5:26] That rant of false information [5:31] does not bring this country together. [5:34] If you want to work on bringing this country... [5:36] It's my time, not yours. [5:37] My God. My God. [5:39] If you want to talk about... [5:40] ...dividing this country, [5:41] I follow you on your social media posts [5:44] that tear this country apart. [5:46] I'm trying to address your falsehoods. [5:49] You are an embarrassment [5:50] to the division in this country. [5:52] You can try all you want [5:53] to not take responsibility [5:54] for what you have said. [5:55] You had your time. [5:56] Your time is over. [5:57] Sir, you're making a mockery of this committee. [5:58] Sir, you don't tell me my time is over. [6:00] You know how far we've come since you passed. [6:01] The people of New Jersey tell me what my time is. [6:03] You can't lecture me. [6:04] If you can tell me my time is over, [6:06] I'm not going anywhere. [6:08] I am not afraid of you, sir. [6:09] Mr. Chairman. [6:10] I'm not afraid of you. [6:11] Mr. Chairman, point of order. [6:13] Senator Booker, [6:14] I announced at the beginning of this meeting [6:16] that this back and forth talking over each other [6:19] doesn't work, [6:20] and I said if that happened, [6:22] I asked Patel not to respond, [6:24] and I was going to give him some time [6:26] after the senator's time was up to respond, [6:30] and he has the privilege to do that uninterrupted. [6:34] Mr. Chairman, one point of order. [6:35] Go ahead, Mr. Patel. [6:36] I've watched him talk over us, [6:38] and you've never once criticized him [6:40] for us not even being able to get our questions out. [6:42] He has been rude and disrespectful [6:44] to senator after senator. [6:46] And when the senators were not giving him a chance to answer, [6:50] I didn't stop the senator either. [6:52] Go ahead, Senator. [6:54] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [6:55] If the FBI, under my seven-month leadership, [6:58] were failing this administration in this country, [7:01] why do we have 23,000 violent felons [7:03] arrested this year alone? [7:05] A double increase from that time last year. [7:09] Why is it that we have seized 6,000 weapons? [7:12] Why have we found 1,500 child predators and arrested them? [7:15] Why have we have 300 human traffickers [7:17] in jail? [7:18] Why have we found and identified 4,700 children? [7:20] Why have we seized 1,600 kilograms of fentanyl, [7:23] enough to kill a third of the American public, [7:26] a 25% increase alone from last year? [7:29] 88,000 kilograms of cocaine seized, [7:31] 7,000 kilograms of meth seized, [7:34] and that's just on our criminal operations in summer heat. [7:37] How is it possible that we are taking 8 kilograms [7:39] off the streets of the cities in New Jersey [7:42] and preventing the deaths of 607,000 people this year alone, [7:45] a failure of the FBI's mission [7:47] and my leadership? [7:48] How is it that we have counterintelligence arrests [7:50] already this year, [7:51] exceeding the numbers from the entirety of last year? [7:54] 33% increase in PRC, [7:56] 83% in Russia, [7:57] 60% in the CIA space as it relates to Iran, [8:00] and we haven't even talked about CT, [8:02] the southern border, the northern border.