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After going through intense criticism from Democrats throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee listening to this week, embattled FBI Director Kash Patel remained defiant, saying that he’s “proud” to steer the nation’s premier investigations company.
Talking with reporters after the listening to, Patel, who was confirmed to the position by the Senate in late February, touted its historic recruiting efforts, saying that the company “has probably the most candidates to grow to be FBI brokers and intel analysts within the historical past of the FBI.”
One of many main criticisms he obtained from Democratic senators in the course of the listening to was for initially misstating on social media that conservative chief Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer was in custody.
Patel has conceded that he may have worded his social media publish higher, however that he doesn’t remorse it as a result of he issued it within the title of transparency.
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FBI Director Kash Patel testifies earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 16, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photos)
Talking after the listening to, Patel added that “the American individuals are seeing and listening to what the FBI is doing each day, crushing violent crime and defending the homeland.”
“So, I’m proud to be the director of the FBI that has seen probably the most vital, expansive software pool in historical past,” he mentioned.
In his opening assertion to the committee, Patel listed a sequence of accomplishments the company has achieved since President Donald Trump took workplace, together with tens of hundreds of arrests, a realignment of the company and an emphasis on cracking down on illicit medicine.
Patel acknowledged the rising criticism over his route of the FBI and challenged lawmakers on the panel to come back after him, saying, “I am not going wherever” and “if you wish to criticize my 16 years of service, please carry it on.”
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FBI Director Kash Patel opened his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee with an replace on the investigation into the assassination of Charlie Kirk as scrutiny lingers on his dealing with of the case. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photos)
Patel was additionally scrutinized over a wave of firings on the FBI, which some have alleged have been politically motivated.
Rating member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ailing., criticized Patel’s deference to Trump, saying the director “put in MAGA loyalists” to key positions and initiated inner “loyalty checks,” together with polygraph checks. Durbin claimed that some FBI officers who failed these checks wanted waivers to proceed working on the bureau.
Durbin additionally famous that Patel has little expertise working in legislation enforcement, calling his inexperience “staggering” and accusing him of fast-tracking equally unqualified recruits to fill the FBI’s open jobs.
Patel was additionally grilled by Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, for requiring FBI subject brokers to carry out push-ups as a part of their bodily health requirements.
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Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., questions Patel throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee listening to on Sept. 16, 2025. (Jim Watson/Getty Photos)
Hirono expressed issues that feminine brokers could also be negatively impacted by the push-up requirement, saying, “There are issues about whether or not or not having the ability to do these sorts of harsh pull-ups is absolutely required of FBI brokers.”
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Patel responded, “If you wish to chase down a foul man, excuse me, and put him in handcuffs, you had higher have the ability to do a pull-up.”
In a very tense alternate, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., drilled into Patel, saying, “I believe you are not going to be round lengthy” and “I believe this is perhaps your final oversight listening to, as a result of as a lot as you supplicate your self to the need of Donald Trump and never the Structure of america of America, Donald Trump has proven us in his first time period, and on this time period, he isn’t loyal to individuals such as you.”
Patel shot again that Booker’s “rant of false data doesn’t carry this nation collectively,” earlier than including, “It is my time, not yours.”
Fox Information Digital’s Jasmine Baehr, Ashley Oliver and Alex Miller contributed to this report.
