TENSE: Kash Patel & Patty Murray Have Very Testy Exchange When She Asks If He's Politicized The FBI

Name: TENSE: Kash Patel & Patty Murray Have Very Testy Exchange When She Asks If He's Politicized The FBI
Uploaded: 2025-09-07T17:17:16.470Z
Duration: 9 min 24 s
Channel: Kash Patel
Description: #Kashpatelpoliticians #Politicians

Kash Patel

6 Video Views·Sep 7, 2025 #Kashpatelpoliticians #Politicians

#Kashpatelpoliticians #Politicians

Capito, we're privileged to have the ranking member, the vice chair of the full committee with us today. Senator Murray, you are recognized. Thank you very much, Chair Moran. It's good to work with you and Ranking Member Van Hollen in this new position. So I look forward to both of you and the work on this committee. You know, the FBI does really crucial work to keep our nation safe, whether it's stopping criminal organizations or domestic terrorists, protects our nation's secrets, it prevents cyber attacks, keeps our children safe from harm, and a lot more. So this is really sober work with extremely high stakes. And I'm concerned that instead of focusing on the incredibly important mandate to keep Americans safe and to help and partially enforce our laws under your leadership, Director Patel, the FBI has been weaponized to go after Americans who disagree with the president. FBI resources have been diverted away from combating terrorism to focusing on immigration requests. And all of this, the diverted missions, the fewer resources, fewer agents, heightened polarization is happening now under your watch, and it is, I believe, making Americans less safe. Now, let me just start with the budget. As Ranking Member Van Hollen noted earlier, this hearing is being held without the FBI's fiscal year 2025 spend plan and a full budget request for fiscal year 2026. The spend plan is required by law. It was due to Congress over a week ago. We have not yet seen it. That is really absurd. The FBI is our nation's leading law enforcement agency, budget of $10.7 billion. It is critical that we understand how you are spending taxpayer dollars. So, Director Patel, when should we expect this FY 2025 spend plan for the FBI? Have you seen it? Have you reviewed it? When will we get it? I'll get you an answer, ma'am. I don't have a timeline on that. It was due last week by law. I understand. And your answer is you just understand you're not going to follow the law? My answer is that I am following the law, and I'm working with my interagency partners to do this and get you the budget that you are required to have. And you have no timeline? No. Hmm. Well, we also need a full budget request, not a single paragraph full of wild talking points that we saw with the skinny budget proposal. We're now having a budget hearing without a budget request. So, Director Patel, where is the FY 2026 budget request for the FBI? It's being worked on, ma'am. Have you reviewed it? Have you approved it? Not yet. When will we get it? As soon as I can get it from my interagency partners and get it approved. Six months from now? I don't know, ma'am. I'm not going to make up a timeline. Well, how do we as Congress do our budget and our work without that request and without the spend money? Well, ma'am, I'm here. I'm doing the best I can. I can't make up answers. I'm going to commit to you to work on getting you the information you need. That is insufficient and deeply disturbing. No response? I've given my response. Well, the FBI is already down 1,900 employees since 2023 as a direct result of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. And under the Trump administration, FBI agents, analysts, linguists, cyber experts, and scientists are being asked to do a lot more in order to keep us safe. Director Patel, we all know that budget cuts will reduce the FBI's ability to counter threats of terrorism, and it will hinder its ability to keep pace with firearm background checks and shutter operations that combat violent crime, drugs, gangs, and transnational organized crime. Now, I understand that you told our House colleagues yesterday that you don't want to reduce the FBI workforce, meaning that you disagree with what President Trump is proposing? No, I agree that we can sustain the mission with the proposed budget, and I agree with the budget. And as I said yesterday, I believe that what I said was, I can do more with more. And I gave examples of what more we could do if we were given more. Well, it's different than what you told the House yesterday. So what are you communicating to the President and the White House about what you need, and again, we don't have a budget request from you, so I'm not sure what you're asking us for. I'm not asking you for anything at this time. You can operate without a budget? I never said that. Well, this is unprecedented. Okay, well, let me just go to another topic, since you're not going to answer that. The FBI partners with state, local, and tribal law enforcement organizations. They provide critical intelligence and operational capabilities to combat violent crime and gangs and terrorist threats, fentanyl trafficking, challenges that our local communities really can't face alone. I'm going to give you an example. A few years ago, the Southeast Washington Safe Streets FBI Task Force worked with our Benton County and Franklin County Sheriff's Office, multiple Tri-Cities Police Departments, and the State Corrections Department to carry out one of the largest ever drug seizures in the region's history. Now we've got an administration already cutting more than $800 million in assistance in 2025 to local law enforcement organizations while proposing a half-billion-dollar cut for the FBI. Director Patel, can you explain to this committee how cutting resources for our local law enforcement partner agencies the FBI relies on to help your Bureau keep safe? How do you expect the FBI and local law enforcement to do more without those significant resources they need? The FBI will continue to do what it does, which is work with embedded state and local law enforcement officers in our Joint Terrorism Task Force, in our Safe Streets Task Force, in our Gang Task Forces. Those are a priority. Those billets have been maintained. Those billets have not been reduced. And with my reorientation, reprogramming that we've notified Congress to, you will see an augmentation in the field in every single state in this country. Again, we need to see the numbers and we need to see that budget from you. Let me ask you about the NICS system. The FBI is really on the front lines of keeping guns out of the hands of very dangerous criminals. The NICS serves a really critical role in enhancing national security and public safety by conducting background checks. You know this. They are supported by the vast majority of American people. And I wanted to ask you this morning, will you commit to continuing to fund and run the FBI background check system? Yes. Thank you. I want to ask one final question here, Mr. Chairman. I want to talk again about how the FBI is focusing its resources. President Trump has turned the Department of Justice into a tool to go after his perceived enemies and many of the actions we have now seen at the FBI are alarming. The FBI has reassigned and pushed out career FBI agents for political reasons. We have seen fear and intimidation promoted throughout the Bureau, including by polygraphing your own staff. We've seen the arrest of a sitting judge in Wisconsin. And during your confirmation hearing, you committed that there would be no politicization, no retribution at the FBI under your leadership. You've reportedly placed FBI employees responsible for investigation January 6th cases on leave. Is that keeping up your promise of no politicization, no retribution? It is because that's wildly inaccurate. Let me tell you what the FBI has done since I got there. 8,276 federal arrests to 820 kilogram seized fentanyl. That's enough to kill a quarter million people. Over 3,000 firearms seized, 350 gang cases, 3,000 cases against violent criminals. That's not my question. We know that. Well, you asked if I was weaponizing the FBI and I am not. I'm giving you the hard concrete examples of the men and women putting handcuffs on bad people, doing harm to our children and innocent Americans. But you have placed on leave FBI employees responsible for the investigation of January 6th. That sounds political to me. I have not placed anyone on leave who has not violated their ethical obligation or their oath to the Constitution. So, if they were investigating January 6th, you believe they were violating an ethical obligation? Nope. I think the common theme here is you putting words in my mouth and I'm not going to tolerate it, nor will the men and women of the FBI. Well, you did place on leave an analyst responsible for investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. Is that politicization? Is that retribution? No. Not if she broke the law or the ethical guidelines. I don't know which case you're talking about, but that's the standard. And we will hold ourselves inwardly accountable. And we will not be strayed from our mission because people think we are politicizing the Bureau. If you want to talk about someone who was attacked by a weaponized Bureau, you're looking at him. And now he's the director of the FBI and he's cleaning it up. Well, I would just say to everyone who's listening that the FBI needs to be focused on its mission to keep the entire country safe. It should not be weaponized for partisan political gain. We are.