The US Senate Judiciary Committee’s Tuesday oversight hearing for the Federal Bureau of Investigation covered a wide range of topics, from alcoholism and bestiality to a snorkeling tour of Pearl Harbor and President Donald Trump’s persistent but baseless claims that he won in 2020—and FBI Director Kash Patel came under fire for bolstering the Republican’s election lies.
Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) pointed out that just a few days ago, Trump said: “We had a rigged election, as you know. It was totally rigged. Because I won three times. I didn’t win twice. I won three times.”
The senator then asked Patel if he agreed with Trump’s declaration that he won the 2020 election. Although the president’s attempts to abuse the US courts to cling to power affirmed his loss, the FBI director responded that “there are many ongoing investigations surrounding that matter, so I’m not gonna comment on it and stylize the evidence.”
After giving Patel another opportunity to answer, which the agency leader used to effectively repeat his response, Welch highlighted the FBI’s January raid of an election hub in Fulton County, Georgia—which critics, at the time, condemned as an ominous signal that Trump and his allies would do whatever they could to interfere with this November’s midterms.
Welch stressed that the raid occurred despite two recounts in Georgia following the 2020 contest—including one by hand, which showed that Trump lost the state by 11,779 votes—“and no investigation has found any evidence of wrongdoing.”
Patel refused to even confirm that there haven’t yet been any related indictments, saying, “That matter is ongoing.”
Asked by Welch if he would promise to “not in any way interfere in the will of the American people when they go to the polls” this November, Patel said, “I pledge unequivocally that I will not participate in your charade of lies,” and signaled that FBI agents would be present at some polling stations for the midterms.
Welch also cited Trump’s claims that this year’s elections are rigged if Republicans lose and Democrats can only win if they cheat. The senator asked Patel if he agreed with the latter, and the bureau chief again refused to comment on what he called “ongoing investigations.”
Watch the full hearing below:
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, said in a statement that “while under oath today, Kash Patel peddled dangerous conspiracy theories and misinformation in order to appease Donald Trump’s ego.”
“His cowardly statement supporting Trump’s claim that the only way Democrats could possibly win in November is if the party cheats is particularly rich given Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and his more recent offer to pay $5k to each American if his own party wins the upcoming election,” she continued.
“These sycophantic statements and his testimony throughout the hearing make it clear that Patel’s leadership at the FBI has been plagued by inappropriate politicization, rampant mismanagement of funds and resources, and a lack of regard for public safety,” she added. “With Patel at the helm of the agency, dedicated career officers have been dumped over loyalty tests, child predators have been protected, and taxpayer dollars have been wasted going after Trump’s personal enemies. Every day Patel remains in charge of the FBI is a day too long.”
In addition to Welch, several other Democrats had testy exchanges with Patel throughout the hearing—including Sen. Cory Booker (NJ), who blasted the director as an “incompetent lackey” and said: “He’s like an 18-year-old kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends. He’s an embarrassment to the agency and wouldn’t qualify even to be an FBI agent.”
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