Kash Patel grilled on Epstein, FBI staffing — and bestiality policy — in tense Senate hearing

The FBI director has come under intense scrutiny for his leadership of the federal law enforcement agency, which Democrats say has become a political cudgel for the Trump administration.WASHINGTON (CN) — FBI chief Kash Patel faced sharp questions from Senate lawmakers Tuesday about his leadership of the agency and his handling of the Epstein files — as well as a change in FBI hiring policy which no longer disqualifies people who have sex with animals from employment.Patel, whose tenure at the FBI has been marked by criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, also got a grilling from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a spate of firings at the agency which included longtime employees involved in probes into President Donald Trump.But the most unusual moment of Tuesday’s hearing came in response to media reports that the FBI had recently altered its hiring standards which had long disqualified applicants found to have engaged in prostitution or bestiality. The agency’s new employment guidelines dropped those prohibitions.Under questioning from Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Patel told lawmakers that the FBI did not want to disqualify potential employees who had been victims of those crimes.“They still have to go through the same rigorous standards and application process,” Patel said. “Our standards have never been higher. We are not going to target victims and prevent them from serving.”Durbin, though, contended the dropped guidelines specifically barred people who “engaged” in bestiality from employment at the FBI.“Applicants who engaged in bestiality means they were victims of bestiality because they were forced to do so,” Patel replied. “At this FBI we are not going to criminalize and prevent victims from serving the United States of America in the premier law enforcement agency in the world.”He argued his move to change the FBI’s hiring standards removed “bureaucracy” from the agency that had barred previously qualified candidates from employment.But Patel’s explanation didn’t placate senators on the Judiciary Committee — including some Republicans. Louisiana Senator John Kennedy pressed the FBI director on the issue, questioning why the agency would invite conversations about its hiring standards at a time when potential new employees may already be concerned about its political leanings.“Why would you even get into bestiality?” Kennedy asked. “If Joe participated in bestiality — not as the animal but as the human — don’t you think he ought to be disqualified?”“We are not into bestiality,” Patel responded. “If he voluntarily did it, sure, but if he was trafficked into it that should be considered.”Kennedy was unconvinced. “How do you involuntarily do it?”Patel doubled down on his claim, arguing some people victimized by human traffickers and other organized criminals are forced into nonconsensual acts, such as bestiality, and that they go on to become law enforcement officers. Patel said he had seen specific cases of people trafficked into bestiality who later applied to the FBI.“But you’re not telling us today that if a human being had sex with an animal that they can still be an FBI agent?” Kennedy asked.“No,” replied Patel.Beyond his unusual bipartisan clash over FBI hiring standards, Patel defended the firings of agents on his watch. He argued some of the agency departures had taken place under the Biden administration, and that under his FBI employees were not allowed to “participate in the weaponization of law enforcement.”Patel told California Senator Adam Schiff he wasn’t sure how many FBI agents who worked on the probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida had been fired. He did, however, tell the lawmaker he believed “most of” the employees assigned to that investigation had retired from the agency.Schiff pushed back, pointing to comments from Attorney General Todd Blanche who said Patel had “cleaned house” at the FBI and that there were no remaining agents who’d worked on the classified documents case.“Is your testimony today that most of those agents are no longer with the FBI because they decided suddenly to retire?” said the California Democrat.“Yeah,” Patel replied. “The bulk of the individuals who worked on the investigations left shortly thereafter.”Patel also rejected a suggestion from Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse that he’d held off releasing pages of the agency’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein that mentioned Trump — particularly testimony provided to the FBI by a woman who said she’d been sexually assaulted by the president when she was an adolescent.“We have complied with the statute and the court orders and produced 3 1/2 million pages of documents for the first time ever,” Patel told Whitehouse, adding investigators under the Biden administration had reviewed evidence “in real time” and decided whether to prosecute people. The FBI director said he didn’t know of documents that had not been released.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads