FBI Director Kash Patel lashed out at Democratic lawmakers during a congressional budget hearing Tuesday, offering a brash defense to their questions centering on a recent news report alleging that his “excessive drinking” has impaired his ability to do his job.
“It’s a total farce,” Patel responded when pressed by members of the Senate Appropriations Committee about an article published last month by the Atlantic magazine, which cited unnamed sources who offered a deeply unflattering assessment of Patel’s year leading the nation’s chief law enforcement agency.
He added: “I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations.”
Patel has sued the magazine over the story and previously denied its claims, including that he has “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”
But the rebuttal he offered Tuesday — amid a hearing on the FBI’s request for a $12.53 billion budget — marked Patel’s most defiant effort yet to push back against accusations that his critics say should endanger his future at the agency.
“What we are learning about what’s happening at the FBI is anything but normal,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Maryland), the top Democrat on the subcommittee overseeing the bureau’s budget. “Director Patel, as you ask for more taxpayer resources, we cannot look away from the credible, extremely troubling reports about your misconduct at the FBI.”
Patel, embracing what has become the go-to posture for Trump administration Justice Department officials being grilled on Capitol Hill, quickly responded with personal attacks.
He accused Van Hollen of “slinging margaritas” with Kilmar Abrego García, the undocumented immigrant and Maryland resident whom the Trump administration mistakenly deported to a megaprison in El Salvador last year.
“The only person who has been drinking during the day on the taxpayer dime was you,” the FBI director said.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Van Hollen shot back.
The senator had visited Abrego during his time in the Latin American prison and was photographed seated with him at a table with glasses that appeared to have liquid inside.
Van Hollen has previously said Salvadoran officials put those glasses on the table during the meeting, which was monitored by the government, but that neither he nor Abrego touched them during their discussions.
But as the senator continued to press Patel on his drinking Tuesday, the FBI director again sought to turn the tables. He repeatedly suggested Van Hollen had once run up a $7,000 bar tab at an event — an expense the lawmaker maintained was a catering expense for a campaign-funded event for his staff last year.
Later, as the hearing continued, Patel’s official social media account on X posted photos of the bar and Van Hollen’s campaign finance report listing the expense.
“Fact check,” the FBI director wrote.
Those coarse and combative exchanges were reminiscent of others that have come to define congressional oversight proceedings during the second Trump administration.
During an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last year, Patel called then-Rep. Eric Swalwell’s career “bulls—” amid a testy back-and-forth with California Democrat over the FBI’s handling of the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Swalwell resigned last month amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Former attorney general Pam Bondi, too, earned a reputation as a Capitol Hill brawler, showing up to hearings with binders filled with pre-scripted insults for lawmakers.
At her last appearance before Congress before Trump’s decision to fire her earlier this year, she shouted down Rep. Jamie Raskin (Maryland), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, calling him a “washed-up loser lawyer.”
Tuesday’s sparring threatened at times to overshadow the true reason for Patel’s appearance on Capitol Hill — debate over the FBI’s 2027 budget request.
At one point, Sen. Patty Murray (Washington), the ranking Democrat on the committee, referenced a widely circulated video of Patel drinking beer in the locker room of the U.S. Olympic hockey team after their gold medal win in Italy earlier this year.
“If you really want to pop bottles in a locker room, stick to podcasting,” she said.
Others pressed Patel on claims that the bureau had launched investigations into reporters and their sources who provided unflattering leaks on the director’s behavior.
“This FBI is targeting and questioning no journalist,” Patel said. He also denied reports that he’d personally ordered polygraph tests for any bureau personnel to see whether they were the source of disclosures to the media.
In his opening statement, Patel touted what he described as successes under his watch, including the bureau’s response to the shooting at last month’s White House correspondent’s dinner in Washington and the declining homicide rate across the country.
The bureau’s budget request seeks additional funds to further support efforts to combat violent crime and enhance investigative technology.
Patel was joined at Tuesday’s hearing by the heads of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who also testified in support of funding requests from their agencies.
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