In The News – Week of September 21st 2025 – Part 3
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Kash Patel Questioned on Several Topics
The discussion centers on political violence and the responsibilities of law enforcement, particularly the FBI. It emphasizes the importance of respectful discourse among differing political views, acknowledging both sides’ obligation to advocate for their beliefs without resorting to violence. The conversation highlights a recent incident involving an assailant targeting political commentator Charlie Kirk, commending law enforcement for apprehending the suspect, while also questioning the accuracy of statements made regarding the suspect’s custody status.
Key issues arise regarding the performance and management of the FBI, especially concerning the dismissal of experienced agents like Brian Driscoll. Driscoll’s termination, perceived as unjust given his commendable record and service, raises concerns about leadership accountability and support for agents performing their duties during politically charged events such as the January 6th Capitol riot. The dialogue also touches on the FBI’s operational decisions, including travel policies for directors compared to regular agents, and the implications of budget cuts affecting local law enforcement partnerships.
In conclusion, the conversation reflects broader tensions surrounding law enforcement’s role in addressing political extremism and public safety. There is a stark division in opinions about the effectiveness of current FBI leadership and its prioritization of resources. As the FBI grapples with criticism from various political factions, the need for transparency, accountability, and community trust remains paramount in restoring confidence in federal law enforcement agencies.
In Their Own Words
Just at the outset, I just want to say what I think all of us believe, and that is that the political violence that is so afflicting our country, it doesn’t matter whether it’s from the right or the left. I mean, all of us have an obligation to fiercely advocate for our point of view. All of us have an obligation to respect people with whom we disagree.
The folks we disagree with are our opponents, but they’re not our enemies. And I hope all of us keep that in mind and do the best we can to set that example. I want to congratulate the FBI.
I want to congratulate the Utah State and Local Law Enforcement for the very good work that it did in apprehending the violent assailant of Charlie Kirk, and that is a terrible, terrible tragedy. Director Patel, at one point you made an announcement that the suspect was in custody, we got our man. It turned out that was not true.
In fact, I think that was about 27 hours before the person now in custody was apprehended. Why did you make that statement? Thank you, Senator. Appreciate you letting me address this.
What the FBI does is not just locate and find suspects, but we also participate in eliminating subjects. And what we had at the time was a subject in custody in relation to this investigation. So in my commitment to work with the public to help identify subjects and suspects, I put that information out.
And then when we interviewed him, I put out the results of that. And could I have been more careful in my verbiage including an a subject instead of subject? Sure, in the heat of the moment, but I was doing the best I could. You know, Kander, I don’t quite get that because if we have our man, that would suggest to the public that everybody can rest and relax and not then continue to provide information to the local law enforcement and to you.
So that was a mistake. I don’t see it as a mistake. I see it as something, working with the public to identify that there was a subject in custody.
If you put out a statement that says we’ve got our man, and in fact it turns out that you didn’t have your man, that’s not a mistake? That’s not what I said. Well, I’ll go on. That’s my understanding.
The second thing that is really important in the FBI, but it’s important in every agency, is that the folks who are doing good work get supported for the work they’re doing. And a number of highly successful FBI agents have been let go. And I want to just ask you a little bit about that.
You know who Brian Driscoll is, right? Yes. Yeah, okay. And my understanding is he served at the FBI for over 18 years.
You agree? I believe that’s accurate. Special agent in charge of the Newark office. He was commander of the FBI’s hostage rescue team.
That’s a very prestigious and responsible position. It is. Section chief of the critical incident response group’s tactical section.
You’ve got to be pretty good to get that high responsibility. You agree with that? Yes, sir. He oversaw 55 SWAT teams, and they’re like the elite of the elite, right? They go in to the dangerous situations, right? He got a medal of valor for his participation in a raid on ISIS terrorist Abu Sayyaf, who had kidnapped American citizens, Kayla Mueller, right? Is that right? Yeah, I know.
You’re in agreement, right? I know Kayla Mueller’s family. Yes, I know the situation. Okay, and he got Kurt Meyer, somebody who had barricaded himself in a bar after he killed four people and wounded two.
And Driscoll was part of the team that went in there and took that guy out, right? I don’t have all the details, but I’ll take your word for it, Senator. And he got into trouble when email Bove demanded a list of FBI agents who investigated January 6th and was apprehensive that what did happen ultimately would happen, and that is those folks would get fired. I mean, do you agree with me that a boss who stands up for his subordinates when they did the job that was asked of them is a stand-up person and somebody to be admired? Generally speaking, yes, sir.
Pardon me? Generally speaking, yes, sir. But Driscoll got fired, right? Again, that matter is under litigation, and the matter you referenced occurred before I was director. Let’s just keep it fairly narrow here.
He’s fired, right? Yes, he was terminated. And he has to be, there’s somebody communicates to him that he’s terminated, correct? That’s my job. That’s your job.
So you communicated to him that he was fired? I did. So, you know, I have a hard time with this because that record suggests to me that this person is like worthy of consideration for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and he got fired. But there’s also a record of other information that was available, and now that this matter is pending litigation, we will get that out in due course.
So you’ve got, quote, other information that you see as a valid basis to fire somebody who, from what I can tell, had an absolutely outstanding record and who crossed the threshold of getting in trouble because he was standing up for agents serving under him who did work that was assigned to them that happened to be related to the January 6th uprising. Again, you’re correlating, based on your information, the reasons for his termination. I’m telling you.
That’s right. Let me ask you another question. You know, when you were here, you were rightly critical, not here actually, I guess it was on You were rightly critical of the way that the previous FBI director used the FBI jet, and you said you wanted to ground Chris Wray’s private jet travel that he pays for with taxpayer dollars to hop around the country.
Let me ask you this. You know, on the weekend of, according to flight tracker data, on the weekend of March 7th, an FBI plane flew round-trip from D.C. to Las Vegas, and you attended a UFC flight with Mel Gibson, and I’ll show you that. Is that you, and is that true? Yeah, you want to know the difference? I live in Las Vegas.
I’m allowed to go home. I didn’t leave a congressional hearing early on an FBI jet to dodge questions. All right, then on April 5th, you attended a hockey game in New York City.
You don’t live there, right? No, I don’t. By the way, everyday FBI agents who are assigned in Washington don’t get to fly home on a private jet. This is a great point.
Do you know why I have to use a private jet? Because Congress made it mandatory. Okay, in April 5th, well, we didn’t make it mandatory that you go to UFC games with Mel Gibson. Are you telling me I can’t go home? You got to use some judgment here.
So when I’m at home, I can’t do what I’m doing when I go home. Everybody else is allowed to go home. Let me keep going.
No, I’m glad you go home. I love to go home, but I don’t go home on a private jet. On April 5th, you attended a hockey game in New York City with Wayne Gretzky, and Flight Tracker says the FBI jet took you to and from New York City, where you don’t live, right? That’s correct.
And on April 12th, on the following weekend, you attended a UFC fight in Miami, also on the FBI jet, right? That’s correct. So what’s the cost to the taxpayer for those three flights? Well, I pay the commercial equivalent per the regulations of the law. And so just so you know, when you are comparing me to prior directors… I asked what the cost was, and you don’t know.
I take it. Yeah, and what I’ve done with the use of the private jet is use Andrews Air Force Base versus Reagan National as what the other directors have done to save the taxpayer dollars. Bottom line here, you flew home to Las Vegas.
There’s nobody else in the FBI who gets paid. They don’t. They have to pay their own way if they want to go home, right? Well, that’s not accurate.
Depending on where you’re stationed, the FBI covers the bill to get home. So are you telling me that FBI agents who are signed in Washington but who may live in Charlotte, they get paid by the FBI? Sometimes they do, yes. All right.
Another thing I want to say is this. You know, our local law enforcement has been stiffed. About $500 million in cop grants have been taken out of the budget.
Those really help us in Burlington. They help us in Rutland. They really are important.
And why in the world would we be cutting those cop grants when we need that local law enforcement in part to partner with you? Do you support that? I think you’re speaking to the Department of Justice grants, which I don’t adjudicate. But also Vermont, just like every other state, has received a plus-up of FBI personnel. I’ll tell you, that’s not what we’re seeing.
The other thing, my understanding is that there’s a requisition or an effort to get another plane for the FBI that would cost about $72 million. Is that right? That’s inaccurate. The FBI, because the jet, as you call it, is not my jet.
We use it for operational needs. We use it for [unknown]. We use it for [unknown].
But that’s the one you fly in, right? We have multiple fixed-wing assets, and one of them is on a wildly expensive lease that I deemed a waste of money, and I’m looking for a replacement in which the government can procure assets permanently. Well, I would welcome you submitting to this committee the cost information about the jets that are under consideration. And according to our research, the specifications that are included in this request would result in an expenditure of between $72 million and $80 million.
That’s inaccurate, but I’ll happily get you the right numbers. I welcome getting the specific information. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back. If you are so interested in getting the public to submit any information, why have you not met with them? You said you haven’t met with them. Have you met with them? I’ll give you one more chance.
My job as the FBI director is to- Is the answer yes or no to whether or not you met with these women who were sexually abused and raped? Any insinuation by you or any people on your side that I am not man-hunting child predators and sex traffickers, just look at the stats. Mr. Patel, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, this is my time, and I will take as much time as I want. During the Obama and Biden administrations, when these so-called cover-ups were going on, why didn’t anyone in those administrations talk to any of these purported witnesses? Man, oh man, there has been so much today, and I truly don’t know where to start.
So I’m just going to make sure that we start off with a few facts. So a couple of facts that we need to make clear for everyone is that, number one, Director Christopher Wray, when he was appointed to be the head of the FBI, was appointed by Donald Trump. Now, I will agree that I definitely take issue with a number of decisions that Donald Trump makes, especially when it comes to the people that he decides to appoint to very important positions, including this one, because I did have to make sure that I wasn’t going crazy.
But when I say that you are the least qualified FBI director in the history of the FBI, that is real, because you were the only one that never even served with the FBI prior to joining, yet we are supposed to believe that you were the greatest thing since sliced bread. I didn’t ask you a question. Now, what I want to go through is to talk about why you are a failure, and why, honestly, we just need to tell you bye-bye.
I know that you got a little upset, and you put on your show for your boss because it seems like you’re trying to save your job when it came to talking to Senator Booker yesterday. But let’s go through some of your failures. So, before you were even confirmed, and I think one of my colleagues, my colleague from Georgia, pointed out that you were already targeting career officials so that you could direct illegal firings.
Mind you, these cases that you were so upset about, which are the ones tied to Trump, the cases came through his handpicked FBI director. And frankly, when people sit around and say things like, oh, you know, we’re happy because now we feel safe, I don’t know who feels safe in this country except for the white supremacist, because I specifically, as a black woman, definitely don’t feel safe. And frankly, my colleagues have been real nice to you today, and I applaud them, but I don’t have the same demeanor, because I know that multiple colleagues on this side of the aisle have faced death threats.
In fact, somebody tried to kill one of my colleagues, and frankly, I don’t know if this FBI, or under your leadership, if those people would have been caught. I don’t have any confidence in you. And if we start talking about the reasons that I lack confidence, we can start with you not just wanting to acknowledge some simple facts.
Simple facts like the vast majority of the threats are coming from right-wing extremism. And I know my colleagues have tried to stress this, but I decided that I would maybe do it in a different way. Number one, I have a couple of UCs.
Kim Buck, one of multiple Republicans receiving death threats for voting against Jim Jordan as House Speaker. Without objection. Another one, Republican lawmaker says she received death threats after voting against Jim Jordan in Speaker’s race.
Without objection. In addition, there was another one from another colleague who now is leaving Congress, because they said that they were calling his wife anonymously and threatening her life to the extent that she ended up sleeping with a firearm. Without objection.
Okay, so here’s the deal. How are we supposed to have confidence when you’re sitting up here telling the Senate yesterday that it will take you 14 years before you can get the FBI fully staffed to do their jobs? You’re also now redirecting resources so that they can go and play ICE agents on the streets. You’re getting rid of your most qualified people.
And even when it came down to somebody that you consider to be a friend, you were posted up having some fancy dinner to the extent that you posted not only once erroneously, you posted twice erroneously as it relates to catching somebody. And then you want to go and say, let me take a victory lap. Because honestly, if it wasn’t for parents deciding that they were going to turn in their child, it seems like y’all wouldn’t have got there, even though he can he literally confessed online.
So I’m, I’m confused about what it is that the FBI is doing, except for trying to put on a show for the apprentice or whatever you want to call him. The day after all of this took place, there was domestic terrorism that was taking place at HBCUs. They were targeted.
Yet I didn’t hear anything from the FBI about what was going on. And again, black people kept saying, how did we end up in this? Because the numbers are so very clear that white supremacy is a problem. And honestly, I’ve not heard anything out of you today that makes me believe that you’re going to do anything about the white supremacy problem.
The one that is leading to children being killed, children being shot, as well as members of their community as they’re working, as they’re worshiping in their churches. The time of the gentle-lady has expired. If the gentleman would like to respond to any of that.
Well, I mean, I’ll respond. Kash Patel, as I said, when I introduced him, public defender, former prosecutor, top staffer on the House Intelligence Committee, deputy director of national intelligence with the National Security Council, chief of staff at the Department of Defense and FBI director. I think that’s a pretty good resume for the guy who’s now running the top law enforcement agency in our country.
And we’ve seen all the stats that he’s given to the committee on how much better they’re doing to get in the bad guys than the previous guy was doing. With that, I recognize the gentleman from South Carolina. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Director Patel, I think you’re witnessing some auditions, clickbait auditions for the Academy Award for my Democratic colleagues. We’ll see how they fare as they’re on MSNBC later on today. But do you care, before I launch into my line of questioning, to respond to Ms. Crockett from Texas on that very elaborate and theatrics display? Here’s what I’ve learned in my government service.
I don’t give a damn what they say about me, as long as I’m succeeding in the mission. We’re succeeding in the mission because the men and women of the FBI have never been empowered to do more work and to hit the streets harder than by President Trump’s authorities and resources he’s given us. And so all I care about is that we are capturing more child predators than ever before, taking more drugs off the streets than ever before, that we are capturing murderers at a significantly historic rate, and we’re delivering this country the lowest murder rate in recorded history.
That are facts that you cannot dispute. But you can come at me all you want. I don’t care.
Thank you, Director, for that. And we appreciate your service. We appreciate the results speak for themselves, I think, pretty plainly, and your commitment not only to results but to transparency.
So we do appreciate that.
