FBI Director Kash Patel struck a combative tone in a Tuesday listening to that included a number of shouting matches with Democratic lawmakers and a prediction that President Trump “will cut you loose.”
The looks earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee was Patel’s first sitting with lawmakers for the reason that assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the Justice Division’s compliance with a Home subpoena demanding the Epstein recordsdata.
Whereas he confronted some robust questions from the GOP facet of the dais on the Epstein recordsdata, it was exchanges with Democrats that resulted in two heated outbursts.
In a single notable alternate, Patel lit into Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a frequent goal of the president, calling him “the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate” and “a political buffoon at best.”
Earlier than that, tensions flared between Patel and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) when the senator mentioned he expects the director may quickly be fired amid conservative backlash to Patel’s dealing with of the Kirk capturing.
“Mr. Patel, I think you’re not going to be around long. I think this might be your last full oversight hearing,” Booker mentioned. “Because as much as you supplicate yourself to the will of Donald Trump and not the constitution of the United States of America, Donald Trump has shown us in his first term, and in this term, he is not loyal to people like you. He will cut you loose.”
Listed below are 5 takeaways from the contentious listening to.
Patel denies Trump function in forcing out high employees
Patel denied the central allegations of a lately filed lawsuit, saying he didn’t take cues from President Trump in deciding to fireside a number of high brokers, together with a profession agent who led the FBI on an appearing foundation earlier than he was confirmed.
Patel’s statements distinction with allegations from Brian Driscoll, who says he was advised his firing final month was as a result of “the FBI tried to put the president in jail, and he hasn’t forgotten it.” Driscoll indicated he believes Patel’s reference to his superiors meant the Justice Division and the White Home, and in accordance with the swimsuit, Patel didn’t deny it.
However Patel provided a unique account when confronted by lawmakers.
“I don’t receive directions to do that,” he mentioned, including “I make the selections.
“Any termination at the FBI was a decision that I made based on the evidence that I have as a director of the FBI. That’s my job, and I don’t shy away from it. And as you stated, those were allegations, and that is ongoing litigation. They’ll have their day in court. So will we,” Patel mentioned.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel solutions a query from Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight listening to of the FBI on Tuesday, September 15, 2025.
The lawsuit makes a number of different allegations concerning excessive degree Trump administration officers, together with that Stephen Miller referred to as for widespread firings on the FBI and that former No. 3 Justice Division official Emil Bove deliberate to terminate anybody who clashed with the president’s agenda.
Personnel strikes
Patel additionally confronted questions on scores of different firings, together with the 5 profession staffers who headed the bureau’s branches, 18 of the 53 leaders working the bureau’s numerous discipline workplaces, and different key staffers all through the FBI.
Patel refused to reply questions on what number of brokers have been fired, pressured out or left the company below Trump, nor would he say who has been tapped to exchange exiting personnel. At one level he mentioned the FBI has the funding to fill a whole bunch of vacancies, however Patel additionally mentioned it will take 14 years “to onboard every vacancy that’s on the books currently.”
“You admitted in this hearing … that it would take 14 years to fill the vacancies at your agency. Many are the result of your purge. Twenty percent of FBI agents are doing low-level immigration enforcement instead of their mission-critical work. You’ve disbanded entire task forces that stop election interference, foreign influence, public corruption,” Booker mentioned.
“Who benefits from this?”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) questions Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight listening to of the FBI on Tuesday, September 15, 2025.
A number of Democrats questioned Patel in regards to the firings, noting that in his affirmation listening to, he pledged to not terminate staff for political causes. Schiff at one level held up a quote from the director saying, “All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.”
“I’m not going to mince words. You lied to us. In the short time that you’ve been FBI director, you’ve presided over a rash of retaliatory firings,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) mentioned.
Patel took offense.
“The only way people get terminated at the FBI is if they fail to meet the muster of the job and their duties. And that is where I will leave it. And you accusing me of lying is something I don’t take lightly,” he mentioned.
However that dialogue noticed larger nuance below questioning from Schiff, when he requested whether or not any brokers have been fired due to assignments they took.
“No one at the FBI is terminated for case assignments alone,” Patel mentioned.
However that caught the ear of Schiff.
“You’re saying ‘alone.’ Does that mean they were terminated in part because they were assigned to a Jan. 6 case [or] were assigned to the Mar-a-Lago case?” he requested.
“I don’t have to answer your question [as a] yes or no, because you’re setting up a trap,” Patel responded.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) questions Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight listening to of the FBI on Tuesday, September 15, 2025.
Within the early days of the administration, Bove requested for a listing of all FBI brokers who labored on the instances of Jan. 6 rioters, a bunch that numbered within the 1000’s. And in current weeks, the bureau fired Walter Giardina, a longtime agent who labored on quite a few high-profile instances, together with those who concerned Trump.
At one other level, Patel was requested about an agent who largely serves as a pilot for the FBI however was fired after right-wing podcaster Kyle Seraphin accused him of being central to the Mar-a-Lago investigation.
Durbin referred to as it “disgraceful” that staff are being “terminated apparently because of the rants of a podcaster.”
Polygraphs and politicization
Patel fielded quite a few questions on polygraph exams which have been given to brokers, in addition to different questions requested in search of the political persuasion of brokers.
The New York Occasions reported in July that the bureau had begun to make use of polygraphs to ask brokers uncommon questions, together with whether or not they had spoken negatively about Patel.
Patel defended the usage of polygraphs in the course of the Tuesday listening to, casting the report as false and saying they performed a job in attempting to find out who could be behind media leaks.
“I don’t tell the professionals how to conduct polygraphs or what questions to ask. They make those decisions. And I, as the director of the FBI, never ask anyone who they voted for,” he mentioned.
Within the swimsuit from fired FBI brokers, Driscoll mentioned the Trump transition workforce requested him about his prior votes, together with his help for Trump, questions he refused to reply.
“It’s not a proper question, and it’s improper to allege that I’m doing that. And also, at the FBI specifically, under my leadership we do not ask who you voted for,” Patel mentioned.
A combative tone
Senate Democrats took to the social platform X to forecast their plans to grill Patel, with Schiff doing a video strolling by means of deliberate questions and Judiciary Committee rating member Dick Durbin (D-Ailing.) tweeting a listing of profession brokers fired by Patel who’re “all more competent than him.”
Even earlier than the listening to, Patel shot again.
“If you’re going to come at me, use facts. All you have is disinformation and lies. I’ll see you, prime time in front of the world. America deserves a better brand of justice, and I’m giving it to them,” he wrote Monday on X in response to Durbin.
“BRING IT.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel solutions questions from Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight listening to of the FBI on Tuesday, September 15, 2025.
Past the large blowouts, Patel received in different jabs in the course of the listening to.
“If you’re not going to let me answer, why don’t you just do your soliloquy in the 4.5 minutes you have left?” he mentioned below questioning from Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) in regards to the variety of agent firings.
When requested why an unsigned FBI and DOJ memo concluding there was no must make additional disclosures on the Epstein matter did embrace his signature, Patel received in a barb at former President Biden.
“Would you prefer I’ve used autopen?” Patel quipped, nodding to Biden’s use of an autopen to signal some paperwork — a White Home observe conservatives have argued ought to invalidate lots of the prior administration’s selections.
The sharpest moments, nonetheless, got here with Booker and Schiff.
Patel advised Booker “your falsehoods are an embarrassment to the division in this country.”
He additionally advised Schiff that he’s “a disgrace to this institution and an utter coward.”
Epstein recordsdata
Patel on Tuesday blamed previous administrations for the “original sin” he argued hamstrung the bureau in its prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.
He pointed a finger at Alex Acosta, a former U.S. legal professional who first prosecuted Epstein’s case and who went on to function Labor Secretary in the course of the first Trump administration.
“The original sin in the Epstein case was the way it was initially brought by Mr. Acosta back in 2006. The original case involved a very limited search warrant or set of search warrants, and didn’t take as much investigatory material it should have seized,” Patel mentioned.
“If I were the FBI director then, it wouldn’t have happened.”
FBI Director Kash Patel testifies earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 16, 2025.
However in the course of the listening to, Patel confronted strain from Democrats and Republicans to disclose extra particulars in regards to the case involving the convicted intercourse offender who killed himself whereas in jail when awaiting further associated costs.
“The essential question for the American people is this, they know that Epstein trafficked young women for sex to himself — they want to know who, if anyone else, he trafficked these young women too,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) mentioned.
“And that’s a very fair question. I want to know that answer. And I think you’re going to have to do more to satisfy the American people’s understandable curiosity.”
Patel mentioned his solutions on the case have been “not going to satisfy many, many, many people” and that earlier investigators erred in in search of knowledge throughout a small window of time.
“If they wanted it done right, then the investigation from its origination should have been done right, and he should not have been given a ‘get out of jail free card’ to do jail on the weekends for 12 hours a day, and he should have been investigated fully for the entirety of his crime and criminal enterprise, not just from 1997 to 2001,” Patel mentioned.
