FBI Director Kash Patel sat before Congress for the past two days for oversight hearings. First, it was the Senate Judiciary Committee, followed by the House Judiciary Committee the next day. On both days, questioning the head of an ostensibly nonpartisan agency revealed a deep partisan divide.
Gone are the days of any semblance of bipartisanship or even basic comity, thanks in large part to a creeping weaponization of the Justice Department against political opponents that began during the Obama administration and ratcheted up during the Biden administration.
Deep state elements within the FBI and DOJ sought to obstruct and inhibit Donald Trump’s first term. Following Joe Biden’s election, a blatant lawfare campaign arose against Trump in the failed effort to keep him from returning to the White House.
While the Democrat lawmakers sought to use the Patel hearings to push anti-Trump talking points, clearly, the FBI director was not going to play along. There were a number of intense confrontations between Patel and Democrats, which often devolved to them both talking over each other, and in the case of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, it devolved into shouting insults at each other.
It wasn’t much different with California Democrat Senator Adam Schiff. Patel called Schiff a “political buffoon,” and said, “You have disgraced this institution and are an utter coward.” Schiff responded by calling Patel “nothing more than an internet troll.”
However, several substantive questions were asked, particularly by Republicans.
For instance, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley raised the issue of the scandal that occurred during the Biden administration back in 2023 when it was revealed that the FBI’s field office in Richmond, Virginia, had authored an anti-Catholic memo. Hawley asked about the investigation into this scandal, and Patel answered, “There have been terminations related to this and resignations.”
He also noted the FBI’s efforts to investigate a number of anti-Catholic hate crimes, stating, “We have 60 anti-Catholic hate crime incidents reported to us that are being investigated. We have five hate crime investigations with anti-Catholic bias ongoing currently in the cities of Kansas City, Louisville, Houston, Nashville, and Richmond.”
What initiated the anti-Catholic action was the FBI’s field office relying on analysis from the hate-profiteering Southern Poverty Law Center, which has a history of falsely labeling conservative Christians and their organizations as “extremists” and “hate groups” due to their commitment to mainstream Biblical views.
Some 1,000 FBI employees were involved in developing the anti-Catholic memo.
When it came to the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein files saga, Patel blamed the decisions made in the original case against Epstein for playing a major negative role in the current state of the available information. “The original sin in the Epstein case was the way it was initially brought … 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 as it should have seized,” Patel stated, adding, “If I were the FBI director then, it wouldn’t have happened.”
In Wednesday’s House hearing, the issue was raised again with Democrat Representative Pramila Jayapal railing against Trump for dismissing Epstein as a hoax. Patel pushed back, noting that it was Trump who authorized the indictment of Epstein.
Recent rumors suggest that some members of the Trump administration are unhappy with Patel and would like to see him replaced. Booker sought to capitalize on this rumor by claiming that Patel has tarnished the agency’s legacy, failed as a leader, and is unfit to head the bureau. “I think you’re not going to be around long,” Booker speculated. “I think this might be your last Oversight hearing.”
Patel’s forceful response may have been directed at Booker, but it also sent a message that he has no intention of backing down, nor that he is expecting to be shown the door anytime soon. Furthermore, Trump also downplayed the rumors, stating, “Take a look at what he did with respect to this horrible person that he just got to. He did it in two days. It took other similar cases four days, five days, four years if you look at certain shooters.” He added, “I have confidence in everybody in this administration.”
Trump likes loyal fighters, and given the hearings, it doesn’t look like Patel will be leaving anytime soon.
