FBI Director Kash Patel sparred with a lawmaker briefly during a Tuesday afternoon hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee when asked about media reports alleging he drinks to excess.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, was especially pointed in his opening statement and questioning — raising concerns about Patel’s leadership and noting reports of his personal behavior, the recent firing of counterintelligence agents tasked with monitoring threats from Iran, and subpoenas recently sent to reporters.
“Director Patel, I don’t care one bit about your private life,” Van Hollen said. “I don’t give a damn what you do on your own time and your own dime, unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities.”
Tuesday’s hearing focused on the top Justice Department law enforcement agencies, including the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; US Marshalls; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives over their respective 2027 budget requests.
Democratic lawmakers pressed Patel over reports of his alleged behavior on the job and raised questions about the FBI’s immigration- and election-related efforts. Patel consistently pushed back on their assertions, defending the agency under his leadership and pointing to his touted successes: lower crime rates, significant arrests, and moving agents out of DC and into the country.
Patel and Van Hollen exchange jabs
The Atlantic recently published a story alleging Patel has “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”
“You cannot perform those public duties if you’re incapacitated,” Van Hollen said to Patel on Tuesday, noting “reports of you being so drunk and so hungover that your staff had to force entry into your home.”
Patel has since sued The Atlantic, calling the reporting false and saying he has never been drunk at work.
Patel shot back at Van Hollen later during the hearing, accusing the senator of “slinging margaritas” with a known felon, referring to a meeting Van Hollen had with Kilmar Abrego Garcia when he was wrongfully deported to El Salvador. Van Hollen has denied that anyone drank margaritas.
FBI Director Patel spars with lawmaker who raises reports of his behavior during Hill testimony
“Director Patel, come on. These are serious allegations that were made against you,” Van Hollen said.
After a brief match in which the two continued to speak over each other, the senator asked if Patel would take a test — instituted in the military — to measure whether someone has a drinking problem.
“I’ll take any test you’re willing to,” Patel said.
The director added: “Let’s go. Side by side.”
The two continued to trade punches and, during the hearing, Patel’s FBI X account posted an Federal Election Commission filing of the alleged dinner Patel claimed Van Hollen paid several thousand dollars for.
“The next time you run up a $7,000 bar tab, we can talk about it,” Patel said during the hearing.
Van Hollen shot back when questioning Patel over whether he knew it was a crime to lie to Congress. The senator said the dinner was for 50 people and not paid for with “public money.”
“You are a disgrace,” Van Hollen concluded.
Patel was asked by Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, about the cost and importance of his trip to Italy earlier this year during which Patel was captured drinking and celebrating with the gold-medal-winning US men’s hockey team.
“We purposely planned that trip around the Olympics, because, as I mentioned in my opening, the top cybercriminal from the (Chinese Communist Party) was housed in Italian custody,” said Patel, who has faced heavy backlash for the trip.
Last summer, Italian authorities arrested a man US prosecutors say worked for Chinese intelligence to help steal Covid-19 vaccine research from US universities. Prosecutors say he was part of a team working at the behest of China’s Ministry of State Security.
The director said that while in Italy the FBI arranged to have him deported to the US instead of going back to China. Patel said the individual was transported to the US two weeks ago.
Other senators raised concerns over the director’s behavior on the trip that included the Olympics.
“If you want to pass out liquor or pop bottles in a locker room, stick to podcasting,” Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, told Patel. “Leave law and order to people who really do care about justice and appearances.”
Immigration and election efforts
Lawmakers also pressed Patel on the FBI’s role in the Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement and how recent action from the agency might concern election workers.
Murray asked Patel how many agents had been reassigned to immigration operations. Patel said he didn’t have a number but instead said no agent has been permanently assigned to immigration.
“No one at the FBI has been reassigned to work solely on immigration, ma’am,” Patel said.
When questioned on whether the FBI’s seizure of hundreds of boxes of 2020 election ballots in Georgia and other efforts might have a negative effect on election workers’ relationship with the FBI, Patel demurred.
The director testified that actions by the FBI around elections — including the ballot seizure — had cleared the legal bar of probable cause and were approved by federal judges.
The Justice Department also issued subpoenas in April for personal information of thousands of 2020 election workers in the state.
Election groups have expressed concern over how the Justice Department’s actions could negatively impact the midterms and the 2028 presidential election.
This story has been updated with additional developments from the testimony.
