FBI Director Kash Patel pointed to a historic national decline in violent crime as evidence of progress under his leadership while senators from both parties pressed him Tuesday over the Epstein files, government travel, controversial hiring changes and politically sensitive FBI investigations.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
FBI Director Kash Patel defended his leadership of the bureau Tuesday by pointing to sharply falling violent crime, while a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing ranged from Jeffrey Epstein records and taxpayer-funded travel to FBI hiring standards and investigations connected to President Donald Trump.
Patel appeared before the committee for the first time since May as Republicans emphasized recent crime statistics and the bureau’s work against violent criminals, drug traffickers and transnational organizations. Democrats focused more heavily on Patel’s management of the FBI, his personal use of government resources and allegations that the bureau has become politicized under his leadership.
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The FBI’s latest national data show a substantial decline in crime.
Violent crime fell an estimated 9.3% from 2024 to 2025, the largest year-over-year decline since the FBI began estimating national trends in 1936. Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter fell 18.1%, robbery declined 18.5%, rape dropped 7.6% and aggravated assault decreased 7.2%.
The national murder rate fell to 4.1 killings per 100,000 people, tying the rates recorded in 1955 and 1956 and representing the lowest level in the FBI’s national estimates. Property crime also declined 12.4%.
Patel has repeatedly credited closer cooperation among federal, state, local and tribal authorities for those results.
“Collectively, law enforcement across the country—state, local, Tribal, and federal—has delivered for the American people the largest reduction in violent crime in U.S. history,” Patel said when the FBI released the figures in August.
The decline did not begin exclusively under Patel or Trump’s second administration. FBI data show violent crime had already been falling before Patel became director, although the 2025 decrease was substantially larger and marked a second consecutive year of significant improvement.
While Republicans sought to keep much of Tuesday’s hearing focused on those results, Democrats repeatedly returned to the bureau’s handling of records involving Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has previously said information supplied to his office indicated roughly 1,000 FBI employees were ordered to review approximately 100,000 Epstein-related records in 2025 and were instructed to “flag” records mentioning Trump. That account originated with information supplied to Durbin’s office and has been part of his continuing demands for greater transparency over the review.
Questions surrounding the Epstein material have persisted despite the Justice Department and FBI previously saying their review did not uncover an incriminating “client list.”
Trump’s name appearing in Epstein-related records would not by itself establish criminal conduct. Epstein associated with numerous prominent people over many years, and the existence of a person’s name in investigative material does not demonstrate involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
Democratic senators also pressed Patel over government resources used for travel.
Patel has faced scrutiny over his use of FBI aircraft, vehicles and security personnel during trips that included personal activities. Ahead of the hearing, he released a letter saying he had reimbursed the government for personal travel expenses as required and arguing that the BMW vehicles questioned by lawmakers cost the government less than other armored transportation options previously considered by the bureau.
FBI directors face unusual travel requirements because they are considered required-use travelers and may be compelled for security and communications reasons to use government aircraft even when travel includes a personal component. Reimbursement rules still apply to the personal portion of such trips.
The hearing took another turn when lawmakers from both parties questioned Patel about changes to FBI employment standards concerning prostitution and bestiality.
The bureau quietly revised its hiring guidance this spring so that previous involvement in those acts would not automatically disqualify every applicant regardless of circumstances.
Patel told lawmakers the change was intended to distinguish voluntary conduct from circumstances in which someone had been trafficked or coerced.
“We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked,” Patel said. “We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., expressed skepticism about the policy and repeatedly questioned why the FBI needed to alter the standard.
“When you saw bestiality, I say this with respect: The person who recommended it, why didn’t you just say what planet did you parachute in from?” Kennedy asked.
Patel said that had initially been close to his own reaction but that he became persuaded the rule could unfairly penalize victims who had been forced into such conduct.
Kennedy then asked whether a person who voluntarily had sex with an animal could still become an FBI agent.
Patel said no.
Republicans also pressed Patel about continuing reviews of politically sensitive FBI and Justice Department investigations involving Trump.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has made examination of earlier investigations into Trump and his associates a central part of his oversight agenda.
Patel appeared to confirm Tuesday that approximately a dozen FBI personnel with Iran expertise had been dismissed in connection with what he described as previous “weaponization” activity, including involvement in the investigation concerning Trump’s handling of classified documents.
“I think what’s most important is to not have a weaponized FBI,” Patel said. “I will endeavor every single day to make sure we have no one there that is doing that.”
Critics of those personnel decisions have argued that firing agents because they worked on investigations involving Trump risks punishing career employees for assignments they were ordered to perform. Patel has maintained that his personnel actions are aimed at eliminating misconduct and politicization rather than retaliating against employees simply for participating in particular cases.
The scrutiny comes days after attorney Joe diGenova resigned from a Justice Department investigation examining whether Trump and his allies were improperly targeted through a broader criminal conspiracy.
DiGenova, a longtime Trump ally and former U.S. attorney, had been overseeing a Florida-based inquiry involving several previous investigations, including matters surrounding Russian interference in the 2016 election, classified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago and efforts to challenge the outcome of the 2020 election.
The inquiry had not produced criminal charges when diGenova resigned.
Patel also highlighted his effort to expand FBI cooperation with foreign governments against transnational crime.
Under his leadership, the FBI has established unusually direct law-enforcement cooperation with China in areas including fentanyl trafficking, cyber fraud, fugitive recovery and child exploitation.
The relationship has included direct contacts and joint operations between American authorities and China’s Ministry of Public Security. Similar cooperation with Russia has also been explored.
Patel argues that narrowly focused cooperation can help capture dangerous offenders and dismantle criminal networks that operate across national borders.
Critics inside and outside the intelligence community have warned that deeper engagement with Chinese and Russian security services could expose U.S. operations or intelligence to governments considered strategic adversaries. Patel has said the cooperation is restricted to specific criminal matters and protected by counterintelligence safeguards.
The hearing also reopened questions about Patel’s personal conduct.
Democrats referenced reports alleging excessive drinking and questioned whether his personal activities have interfered with FBI operations. Patel has denied those allegations and filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic over reporting he has called false. The publication has said it stands by its reporting.
Patel became increasingly combative during portions of Tuesday’s hearing, particularly during questioning from Democratic senators.
During one exchange with Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., concerning whether FBI resources had been used to investigate a journalist who reported allegations about Patel’s drinking, the director told Welch, “Everyone sees you for the complete and total fraud you are.”
The sharp exchanges reflected the broader divide surrounding Patel’s tenure.
Republicans pointed to historically low murder rates, falling violent crime and the bureau’s increasingly aggressive pursuit of criminal organizations as evidence that Patel’s approach is working.
Democrats argued that crime statistics do not answer concerns about personnel firings, politically sensitive investigations, Epstein transparency and the director’s management of government resources.
The national crime data themselves are clear: Every major violent-crime category tracked by the FBI declined in 2025, with more than 17,000 law-enforcement agencies covering 96.2% of the U.S. population submitting information for the annual report.
What remained sharply contested Tuesday was how much of that progress should be attributed to Patel — and whether the crime decline outweighs congressional concerns about the way he is running the nation’s premier federal law-enforcement agency.
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