EVEN REPUBLICANS ATTACK KASH PATEL! Senate Hearing Turns UPSIDE DOWN for FBI Chief — Trump, Midterms

[0:00] it's already been responded to what's that it's already been responded to that letter is public [0:06] i don't have the response did you have it right there with you maybe you can hand it to me [0:11] senator mazy hirono came to this fbi oversight hearing with a long list of complaints about [0:16] cash patel from a snorkeling tour at pearl harbor to the firing of fbi staff and the bureau's [0:23] priorities patel's answer to her opening question is that the response is already public hirono [0:30] says she's never seen it so how much of her case holds up and how much is political theater let's [0:36] look at it claim by claim this is the capital brief mr patel the fbi director should at least try to be [0:46] above reproach but there are many questions and concerns raised about your judgment and character [0:54] for example in august 2025 you took a vip snorkeling tour around the uss arizona at pearl harbor a [1:03] sacred site sacred that is why these tours are rare since 2020 only senior defense officials members of [1:14] the military and one congressman who was a special forces veteran have participated and then came you [1:24] when this incident came to light in may senators schumer durbin and i sent you a letter and we asked you [1:32] three simple questions first what personal travel have you taken as fbi director two what non-official [1:41] activities have you attended as part of official travel three what has been the cost to taxpayers of [1:52] these kinds of activities and three months later no response mr patel when can we expect your response [2:03] to our letter i actually provided for the first time ever no director did before a full uh analysis of not [2:11] only my travel records but director comey and raise as well and when you look at that date anywhere in [2:16] there for when you're going to respond to us it's already been responded to what was that it's already been [2:22] responded to that letter is public i don't have the response you have it right there with you maybe [2:27] you can hand it to me you can the reason i asked that is i had a director who said that there was a [2:32] report that he had right then and there and uh it didn't come to me until a lot later so if you have [2:40] a response give it to me right now please it's public go look it up i assume that there is no response [2:45] let's start with what's on the record here hirono says patel took a rare snorkeling tour around the [2:52] wreck of the uss arizona in august 2025 a memorial where more than 900 sailors are still entombed [3:00] she and two other democratic senators asked him in writing about his personal travel and its cost [3:06] patel says he went further publishing travel records for himself and his predecessors james comey and [3:13] christopher ray hirono says that doesn't answer her questions both sides are describing the same [3:21] paper trail very differently that's exactly the kind of dispute a written answer dated and on the record [3:27] would settle i'm not going to be holding my breath that you're going to provide that response so anyway [3:34] if if this snorkel tour and event were a one-off incident that would be one thing but it's part of [3:44] a broader pattern of you using your office to benefit yourself showing your lack of judgment and [3:52] character you have wasted untold taxpayer dollars driving around in foreign luxury cars partying in [4:00] italy and flying a private jet to play golf and watch hockey there has been bipartisan criticism i'm glad to [4:09] know that some of my republican colleagues actually criticized some of this activity and they have [4:14] criticized this waste and abuse so maybe today one of my republican colleagues will demand an explanation of some of these activities of yours [4:25] now mr patel you have clearly politicized the fbi and whenever you are asked even today uh questions that you don't feel like answering your answer is it's ongoing it's part of an investigation so you think it's going to be an [4:33] that covers everything and you don't answer so that is that is what you have resorted to aside from i've just watched you today uh in a very combative mode with my colleague uh mr welch [4:53] mr welch senator welch and you attacking him which is also kind of the the way that you approach questions [5:00] that you don't want to answer and then i note your recent appearance before the senate appropriations [5:05] committee i'll get to that in a bit so to be clear there are many things that you should answer for [5:14] you have been at the helm of the fbi for two years now and the list of your failings is long and frankly [5:22] growing uh you have decimated the fbi workforce you've been asked that the fbi today is down thousands [5:32] thousands of dedicated professionals who work to keep our country safe and frankly your answer to [5:39] some questions along those lines have been unbelievable and if i thought that i could get [5:46] a real answer out of you i'd ask you questions like what the hell were you thinking in getting [5:51] rid of 12 firing a dozen iran experts on the eve of an illegal war with iran perono's list of charges [6:06] is long she says the fbi has lost thousands of staff that patel fired a dozen iran experts before [6:13] the war with iran and that he uses ongoing investigations as a reason not to answer [6:19] these are her accusations and patel didn't respond to most of them here some like staff departures [6:25] have been reported widely others come from press accounts we can't verify in this video hirono also [6:32] says some republicans have criticized patel's travel and spending which is the headline's point [6:38] oversight works best when both parties ask and as far as i'm concerned the good work being done [6:45] by the fbi agents and analysts of the sort that you describe is happening in spite of you not because [6:53] of you you have lowered hiring standards to allow applicants with a history of bestiality and theft to [7:01] uh serve as fbi employees and i think all of us would love to know why an organization charged with [7:10] investigating theft should bring thieves into your midst but you won't give a straight answer as to why this [7:22] change was made to your hiring even to senator kennedy's questions this morning i think he's still pretty [7:30] mystified as to why bestiality was taken off the list you have been so drunk that briefings have been [7:39] rescheduled so you could sleep it off when challenged by senator van holland at the appropriation committee [7:47] hearing several months ago to take an alcoholism test you agreed senator van holland has posted the [7:56] results of his test we are still awaiting you posting your results of your test the fbi has long [8:06] identified racially ethnically motivated violent extremists that is an actual category which includes [8:12] white nationalists as the most most lethal group of domestic terrorists in our country your fbi no longer [8:21] talks about that threat you no longer post about it and it's not because the threat has gone away [8:29] and you approve so-called surges where fbi agents were diverted to low-level non-criminal immigration [8:39] enforcement something we know near and dear to the president's heart when these agents should be [8:44] focused on important missions such as preventing sex crimes elder fraud and drug trafficking you have [8:53] undermined prosecutions by posting details to your social media you know you testified today that that [9:00] would to questions you don't feel like answering it's ongoing it's an investigation can't talk about [9:06] it and yet you have actually posted things that should be ongoing and where you should keep your mouth [9:13] shut now hold on because some of these claims are the most serious in the hearing hirono says the fbi [9:20] loosened hiring standards that briefings were rescheduled because patel had been drinking and that [9:26] agents were diverted to immigration enforcement those are grave allegations they come from hirono and from [9:33] press reports and they aren't proven here patel's defenders say the bureau is focused on violent crime and [9:40] the border which the administration was elected to prioritize the fair test is evidence if these [9:46] claims are true the inspector general and congress should be able to show it your fbi executed a raid [9:53] of the election office in fulton county georgia and seized ballots in an effort to prove the president's [10:01] unhinged conspiracy theories about the 2020 election another thing near and dear to the president's heart [10:08] and which you sought to help him out on and yet you have done nothing about the rampant corruption taking [10:17] place at the highest levels of the executive branch we all know the president accepted a 400 million [10:23] dollar jet from cutter which he plans to keep after he leaves office tech billionaires received special [10:30] access to the white house in exchange for paying for the president's new ballroom vanity project [10:37] pardons have been available for one million dollar contributions to the president's campaign and just [10:44] this week it has been revealed that a russian oligarch paid hundreds of thousands of dollars so donald trump [10:53] jr could have his wedding on a private island the fbi is supposed to be investigating this sort of blatant [11:00] public corruption not turning a blind eye mr patel this country needs an fbi director who will give us [11:09] straight answers not obfuscate not give us the kind of rhetoric that you have provided once again today [11:19] it is a disservice to this committee's oversight functions and it's certainly a disservice to the [11:24] american people and it is no wonder that former attorney general bill barr said you would take a [11:31] leadership role as the fbi over his dead body and yet here you are mr chairman i am done with this witness [11:39] hirono ends with bill barr in his memoir the former attorney general wrote that when trump [11:45] wanted patel as deputy director of the fbi in 2020 he said it would happen over his dead body that was [11:53] about the deputy job not the top one but the point stands her other examples the qatari jet private [12:00] donors behind the white house ballroom and pardons are about wider concerns over corruption some are [12:07] documented others are her characterization here's where i land a senator giving a speech is not the same as [12:15] proof and a director refusing to answer isn't either now i want to hear from you is patel the right [12:21] person to run the fbi tell me in the comments and give me your reasoning not just your team and [12:29] subscribe to the capital brief for more congressional hearings and commentary that looks beyond the headlines