FBI Director Kash Patel denies drinking allegations in heated Senate exchange
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel angrily lashed out at a Democratic lawmaker during a budget hearing Tuesday, calling allegations that he drank excessively on the job and was sometimes unreachable to his staff “unequivocally, categorically false.”
“I will not allow myself to be tarnished by baseless allegations and fraudulent statements to the media,” Patel told Sen. Chris Van Hollen during a testy exchange that began when the Maryland Democrat confronted him about a recent article in The Atlantic magazine that painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership of the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.
Patel filed a lawsuit over the story. The Atlantic said it would stand by its reporting and vigorously defend itself against the “meritless lawsuit.”
Patel yelled at Van Hollen and sought to turn the tables on him by accusing him of “selling margaritas on taxpayers’ dime” in El Salvador, a reference to a visit the Democrat paid last year to Kilmar Abrego Garcia while he was imprisoned there following his mistaken deportation to the country. “The only person who drank during the day on the taxpayers’ dime was you.”
“Director Patel, come on,” Van Hollen said. “These are serious allegations that have been made against you. » At one point, he asked Patel if he was willing to take a test intended to measure whether a person had a drinking problem, prompting Patel to respond: “I’ll do any test you’re willing to take.” »
The senator also called Patel’s claims that he footed an expensive tab at a bar in El Salvador “provably false.” After last year’s meeting, Van Hollen publicly accused the Salvadoran government of misrepresenting the nature of his meeting with Abrego Garcia, saying local officials set up the meeting with drinks appearing to be alcohol and decided to hold it by a hotel pool.
The difficult exchange took place during an annual Senate committee budget hearing featuring Patel and other top law enforcement officials. The director used the forum to tout what he described as major crime-fighting accomplishments since he took office and received a friendly reception from Republican senators who praised his leadership.
Democrats, on the other hand, have focused on headline-grabbing trips that mixed personal leisure with duties — including a trip to the Winter Olympics in Italy, where he celebrated with the U.S. men’s hockey team after their gold medal — as well as mass firings under his leadership of agents who worked on investigations of President Donald Trump.
“You attended the Milan Olympics,” said Sen. Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware. “How much did your trip cost and how much did it help you carry out your mission as FBI Director?”
Patel responded that the FBI was responsible for Olympic security and claimed that his trip to Italy helped facilitate the transfer to the United States of a Chinese cybercriminal who had been arrested by Italian authorities.
