Heated exchanges were held during FBI Director Kash Patel’s hearing on the law enforcement agency’s 2027 fiscal year budget request to Congress on Tuesday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which manages around 36,000 agents, is requesting $12.53 billion.
Though Patel was joined in testimony by leadership for the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the main line of fire was between Patel and Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen.
The budget hearing quickly turned tense when Van Hollen used his time to question media reports alleging misconduct by Patel.
“Director Patel, I don’t care one bit about your private life, and I don’t give a (expletive) about what you do on your own time and your own dime, unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities,” Van Hollen said. “Reports of your being so drunk and hungover that your staff had to force entry into your home are extremely alarming. If true, they demonstrate a gross dereliction of your duty and a betrayal of public trust.”
Accusations of alcohol abuse
Last month, The Atlantic published a piece painting Patel as a paranoid leader in fear of losing his job as head of the bureau, “erratic, suspicious of others, and prone to jumping to conclusions before he has necessary evidence,” according to anonymous sources.
Patel has denied all the allegations against him and recently filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic.
He told Van Hollen his sources were not credible and retaliated with accusations against the senator’s alcohol consumption, including with alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
“The only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang-banging rapist was you,” Patel said.
Last year, Van Hollen flew to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia, a man who had unlawfully entered the U.S. from El Salvador in 2011 and was among the alleged MS-13 gang members sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, a megaprison in El Salvador. On Wednesday, the country’s President Nayib Bukele posted photos of the congressman and alleged MS-13 gang member meeting last year, after Van Hollen told Patel that his accusations of Van Hollen “drinking margaritas with a felon” is a “false statement.”
He later posted on X that drinks were placed in front of him and Abrego Garcia, but they didn’t consume them.
Patel also accused Van Hollen of spending $7,000 at a bar in Washington, D.C., using campaign finances, saying Van Hollen was guilty of “hypocrisy.”
Both men agreed to take the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.
Praise from Republicans, cited record law enforcement year
Much of the hearing featured expressions of gratitude from GOP members of Congress to Patel and the FBI for their efforts to combat crime in lawmakers’ home states.
During the hearing, Patel highlighted the following achievements by the FBI over the past year:
“This is what real leadership looks like at the FBI,” Patel said, holding up a printed list of achievements. “Twenty-point drop in the homicide rate. 45,000 violent offenders arrested last year, twice as many as in 2024. 2,450 criminal gangs disrupted — that’s a 322% increase from 2024. 6,900 child victims have been located since I’ve been in the seat — that’s 144% increase. 2,900 child predators and human traffickers arrested — that’s a 70% increase. And we’ve arrested eight of the top 10 most wanted fugitives in the world in 14 months.”
“The mission has never been better.”
Patel added on X, “The lies are always the loudest when it’s the Trump Administration and this FBI delivering record results in crime fighting … the fake news breathlessly gags on the lies, so here are the facts.”