00:00You have been so drunk that briefings have been rescheduled so you could sleep it off.
00:06Mr. Patel, the FBI director should at least try to be above reproach,
00:13but there are many questions and concerns raised about your judgment and character.
00:19For example, in August 2025, you took a VIP snorkeling tour around the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor,
00:28a sacred site. Sacred. That is why these tours are rare.
00:34Since 2020, only senior defense officials, members of the military,
00:41and one congressman who was a Special Forces veteran have participated.
00:47And then came you.
00:50When this incident came to light in May, Senators Schumer, Durbin, and I sent you a letter.
00:57And we asked you three simple questions.
00:59First, what personal travel have you taken as FBI director?
01:05Two, what non-official activities have you attended as part of official travel?
01:12Three, what has been the cost to taxpayers of these kinds of activities?
01:19And three months later, no response.
01:24Mr. Patel, when can we expect your response to our letter?
01:30I actually provided for the first time ever, no director did before,
01:34a full analysis of not only my travel records, but Director Comey and Reyes as well.
01:40And when you look at that...
01:40So is that date anywhere in there for when you're going to respond to us?
01:43It's already been responded to.
01:46What was that?
01:46It's already been responded to.
01:48That letter is public.
01:50I don't have the response.
01:51Do you have it right there with you?
01:53Maybe you can hand it to me.
01:54You can look it up.
01:55And the reason I ask that is I had a director who said that there was a report that he
01:59had
01:59right then and there, and it didn't come to me until a lot later.
02:04So if you have a response, give it to me right now, please.
02:08It's public.
02:09Go look it up.
02:10I assume that there is no response.
02:11I'm not going to be holding my breath that you're going to provide that response.
02:16So anyway, if this snorkel tour and event were a one-off incident, that would be one thing.
02:25But it's part of a broader pattern of you using your office to benefit yourself,
02:32showing your lack of judgment and character.
02:35You have wasted untold taxpayer dollars driving around in foreign luxury cars,
02:42partying in Italy, and flying a private jet to play golf and watch hockey.
02:49There has been bipartisan criticism.
02:52I'm glad to know that some of my Republican colleagues actually criticized some of this
02:55activity, and they have criticized this waste and abuse.
02:59So maybe today, one of my Republican colleagues will demand an explanation of some of these
03:05activities of yours.
03:07Now, Mr. Patel, you have clearly politicized the FBI.
03:13And whenever you are asked, even today, questions that you don't feel like answering,
03:19your answer is it's ongoing, it's part of an investigation.
03:23So you think that that covers everything and you don't answer.
03:26So that is what you have resorted to.
03:29Aside from, I've just watched you today in a very combative mode with my colleague,
03:35Mr. Welch, Senator Welch, and you attacking him, which is also kind of the way that you
03:42approach questions that you don't want to answer.
03:45And then I note your recent appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
03:49I'll get to that in a bit.
03:51So to be clear, there are many things that you should answer for.
03:57You have been at the helm of the FBI for two years now, and the list of your failings
04:03is long and, frankly, growing.
04:06You have decimated the FBI workforce.
04:10You've been asked that.
04:11The FBI today is down thousands, thousands of dedicated professionals who work to keep
04:19our country safe.
04:20And, frankly, your answer to some questions along those lines have been unbelievable.
04:27And if I thought that I could get a real answer out of you, I'd ask you questions like,
04:33what the hell were you thinking in getting rid of 12 firing a dozen Iran experts on the eve
04:43of an illegal war with Iran?
04:47And as far as I'm concerned, the good work being done by the FBI agents and analysts of the sort
04:55that you
04:56describe is happening in spite of you, not because of you.
05:00You have lowered hiring standards to allow applicants with a history of bestiality and theft
05:06to serve as FBI employees.
05:12And I think all of us would love to know why an organization charged with investigating theft
05:17should bring thieves into your midst.
05:24But you won't give a straight answer as to why this change was made to your hiring.
05:31Even to Senator Kennedy's questions this morning, I think he's still pretty mystified as to why bestiality
05:39was taken off the list.
05:42You have been so drunk that briefings have been rescheduled so you could sleep it off.
05:48When challenged by Senator Van Hollen at the Appropriation Committee hearing several months ago
05:55to take an alcoholism test, you agreed.
06:00Senator Van Hollen has posted the results of his test.
06:04We are still awaiting you posting your results of your test.
06:10The FBI has long identified racially, ethnically motivated violent extremists.
06:15That is an actual category, which includes white nationalists as the most,
06:21most lethal group of domestic terrorists in our country.
06:26Your FBI no longer talks about that threat.
06:29You no longer post about it.
06:32And it's not because the threat has gone away.
06:35And you approve so-called surges where FBI agents were diverted
06:40to low-level, non-criminal immigration enforcement,
06:46something we know near and dear to the President's heart,
06:49when these agents should be focused on important missions,
06:52such as preventing sex crimes, elder fraud, and drug trafficking.
06:58You have undermined prosecutions by posting details to your social media.
07:04You know, you testified today to questions you don't feel like answering.
07:08It's ongoing.
07:09It's an investigation.
07:11Can't talk about it.
07:12And yet, you have actually posted things that should be ongoing
07:17and where you should keep your mouth shut.
07:20Your FBI executed a raid of the election office in Fulton County, Georgia,
07:26and seized ballots in an effort to prove the President's unhinged conspiracy theories
07:32about the 2020 election.
07:34Another thing near and dear to the President's heart,
07:37and which you sought to help him out on.
07:40And yet, you have done nothing about the rampant corruption
07:45taking place at the highest levels of the executive branch.
07:48We all know the President Trump accepted a $400 million jet from Qatar,
07:53which he plans to keep after he leaves office.
07:56Tech billionaires received special access to the White House
08:00in exchange for paying for the President's new ballroom vanity project.
08:06Pardons have been available for $1 million contributions
08:09to the President's campaign.
08:12And just this week, it has been revealed
08:16that a Russian oligarch paid hundreds of thousands of dollars
08:20so Donald Trump Jr. could have his wedding on a private island.
08:25The FBI is supposed to be investigating this sort of blatant public corruption,
08:30not turning a blind eye.
08:34Mr. Patel, this country needs an FBI director who will give us straight answers,
08:39not obfuscate, not give us the kind of rhetoric that you have provided once again today.
08:48It is a disservice to this committee's oversight functions,
08:51and it's certainly a disservice to the American people.
08:54And it is no wonder that former Attorney General Bill Barr said
08:58you would take a leadership role as the FBI over his dead body.
09:04And yet here you are.
09:05Mr. Chairman, I am done with this witness.
