Sen. Whitehouse Presses FBI Director Patel in Judiciary Committee Hearing

[0:00] Senator Whitehouse. [0:03] Boy, is my timing good. [0:06] It is very good. [0:08] Director Patel, welcome. [0:10] Thank you, sir. [0:11] When you were here for your confirmation, [0:13] we talked about your so-called enemies list. [0:20] It appears to me that there have been adverse actions [0:26] of various kinds taken against about 20 [0:30] of the 60 people on your enemies list. [0:34] You've been in office for seven months. [0:37] At that rate, you've got 14 months [0:39] until you've hit all 60. [0:42] Can you explain that? [0:44] Again, that is an entirely inaccurate presupposition. [0:47] I do not have an enemies list. [0:49] You can continue to characterize it as you wish. [0:52] The only actions we take, generally speaking, [0:54] for personnel at the FBI [0:55] are ones based on merit and qualification [0:58] and your ability to uphold your constitutional duty. [1:01] You fall short. [1:02] You don't work there anymore. [1:04] Well, there was a list. [1:05] You don't like it to be called an enemies list, [1:07] and it had about 60 names, [1:09] and about 20 have had an adverse action. [1:11] So those are, I think, pretty clear facts. [1:14] Let me move on to your grand jury testimony, [1:18] which we also talked about when you were here. [1:22] I think you indicated that you understood [1:27] that a witness in the grand jury is free [1:30] to discuss afterwards whatever they told the grand jury. [1:38] And you then went on to suggest, saying, [1:44] I can't go into court orders granted [1:47] by the D.C. district chief judge, [1:51] and you want me to violate a court order. [1:56] In those remarks, you fairly plainly suggested [2:00] there was a court order of some kind [2:03] that somehow restricted or limited your ability [2:07] to discuss your own testimony to that grand jury. [2:15] Since then, that chief judge that you mentioned, [2:19] Judge Boesberg, has written, and I'm quoting him here, [2:22] Federal rule of Criminal Procedure 6E [2:25] allows witnesses like Patel [2:27] to divulge the contents of their testimony, [2:32] meaning that nothing was preventing him [2:34] from doing so before the committee. [2:38] Can we confirm here today [2:40] that there is no court order of any kind [2:45] that limits your ability as a witness [2:48] before the grand jury [2:50] to discuss your own testimony to that grand jury? [2:53] We can confirm that pursuant to my action [2:57] that that grand jury testimony [2:59] has been released, the transcript. [3:06] Let's, in what forum was it released, may I ask? [3:11] Publicly. [3:12] Okay, we'll check on that. [3:15] The FBI does background investigations. [3:19] In the case of a U.S. attorney, Jeanine Pirro, [3:29] it has come to light that, in a civil proceeding, [3:35] that Fox News executives, prior to her confirmation, [3:45] called her, I'm quoting here, [3:47] a reckless maniac who makes, quote, [3:52] insane comments and said, [3:57] I don't trust her to be responsible [3:59] and noted her penchant for what they called [4:04] random conspiracy theories on weird internet sites. [4:08] My question to you is, did that turn up [4:15] in her background investigation? [4:17] For any background investigation, Senator, [4:20] we do not discuss those publicly. [4:23] And for every background investigation, [4:25] when there's adjudication, it is not made by me. [4:27] It is made by the career professionals [4:29] who run the inspection division [4:31] and background check system. [4:32] Do you know if that information was found? [4:35] You see, we're an oversight body here. [4:37] And there are really three possibilities here. [4:40] One is that the FBI background investigation [4:43] didn't find that stuff. [4:45] That's worth noting because these investigations, [4:48] full-field background investigations, [4:50] are supposed to find that stuff. [4:52] That's possibility one. [4:54] Possibility two is that the FBI did, in fact, [4:57] find that information [4:58] and then did not report it to the administration [5:03] or to the committee. [5:07] And the third is that you found it, [5:11] you reported it to the administration, [5:13] and they went ahead with her nomination, [5:17] knowing that she had been described [5:20] as a reckless maniac who made insane comments, [5:23] who wasn't trusted by colleagues to be responsible, [5:26] and who had a penchant for random conspiracy theories [5:29] on weird internet sites. [5:30] Are you saying that this committee [5:32] does not have any authority or reason [5:35] to look into which of those things is true? [5:37] This committee can look into anything it wishes. [5:40] I'm telling you that the background investigations [5:42] that are done by the HRD division [5:44] are done by career individuals. [5:46] They do not report the details of those to me. [5:48] They adjudicate those independently and individually. [5:51] That's how it's always been done. [5:54] What happened during the pause [5:56] of FBI background investigations [5:58] that was alleged in the complaint [6:02] against you and the FBI [6:04] by the FBI agents who were terminated? [6:08] On February 12th, [6:11] Emil Bovey directed the FBI, quote, [6:12] to pause any FBI background investigations [6:15] of Trump nominees until Patel was confirmed, [6:18] which happened on February 20th, [6:20] is the general description of what they alleged. [6:24] Why do you know were background investigations paused? [6:29] Was it so material like this could be scrubbed out of them? [6:33] And have they been resumed without that pause fully and normally [6:39] after your arrival on February 20th? [6:43] I can speak to the time period since I got there. [6:45] Background investigations have been ongoing [6:47] across the board at the FBI. [6:51] Why was the pause? [6:54] Do you know? [6:54] I was not there. [6:56] Wasn't explained to you when you got there? [6:58] Oh, by the way, boss, [6:59] they've had a multi, [7:01] an eight day pause on background investigations. [7:03] Do you think that would be something [7:04] that would be explained to you at some point? [7:07] Again, I leave it to the men and women at the HRD division [7:09] to run background investigations. [7:11] I do not interfere with them. [7:13] I get that. [7:15] But what I don't get is whether you were told about that pause. [7:18] And why would you not be told about that pause? [7:21] I don't recall that, sir. [7:23] All right. [7:23] The allegation also relates that part of the employee review of senior staff [7:40] was whether or not they voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. [7:50] Since when is who you voted for a proper question for agents to be asked? [8:01] I don't know what allegation you're referring to, Senator. [8:04] If it's from an ongoing matter of litigation, I can't discuss that. [8:08] But what I can discuss is I can only speak to the FBI's background investigations. [8:15] There are other background investigations conducted across the government. [8:19] I can only speak to mine. [8:20] So just to clarify, [8:21] I'm not talking about the FBI full field background investigations. [8:25] I'm talking about internal employee reviews for promotion, [8:31] for termination, for job actions of various kinds. [8:35] And my question to you is, [8:39] is it now the policy of the FBI to ask agents who they voted for? [8:46] And since when is who agents voted for a proper question for the FBI to ask? [8:55] Taking those in reverse order, it's not a proper question. [8:59] And it's improper to allege that I'm doing that. [9:01] And also, at the FBI specifically, under my leadership, we do not ask who you voted for. [9:08] And just one correction for the record, if I may, Senator, it's security division that runs background investigations, not HRD. [9:13] Okay. [9:14] I'll accept that correction. [9:16] And in the event that we cannot locate your grand jury transcript, just expect a question for the record that will give you the chance to either provide that transcript again, [9:31] if it had been previously provided, or to make the statement that grand jury rule 6E allows you to the best of your recollection truthfully about what it is that you told that grand jury. [9:43] Do you understand that? [9:45] That's why I wanted the transcript released, and we'll get it to you, sir. [9:47] Thank you very much. [9:48] Thank you, Chairman.