FBI Director Kash Patel launched into a heated takedown of Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) at a Tuesday hearing, lobbing multiple insults at a lawmaker who is also a frequent target of President Trump’s.
Schiff’s questioning regarding Patel’s handling of the Epstein files devolved into personal attacks, with Patel telling Schiff his job was to protect the “weaponization of intelligence from the likes of you.”
“We have countlessly proven you to be a liar in Russiagate, in Jan. 6. You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate, you are a disgrace to this institution and an utter coward,” Patel said.
“I’m not surprised that you continue to lie from your perch and put on a show so you can go raise money for your charade. You are a political buffoon at best,” he added.
“But all you care about is a child sex predator that was prosecuted by a prior administration,” Patel added, referring to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and saying prior administrations “did squat” on the case.
The back-and-forth came as part of a combative Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which the Patel was testifying.
Schiff kept talking throughout the exchange, but was barely audible over Patel. It was unclear whether Schiff’s microphone was still functioning.
Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) repeatedly slammed the gavel as ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) urged him to “take control of the situation.”
Grassley then shouted, “Both of you be quiet.”
After the hearing, Schiff said Patel’s outburst was about saving his job.
“Kash Patel came to the Senate today not to do his job, but to save his job. The hard-working men and women of the FBI deserve a Director who isn’t just performing for an audience of one,” he wrote on the social platform X
Live updates: Patel clashes with Booker, Democrats in FBI oversight hearing
The exchange began when Schiff questioned Patel about the transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Epstein, to a lower security prison after she spoke with the Justice Department. Schiff was asking the director whether he had insight into the move.
“The Bureau of Prisons decided on their own, without any consultation with … anyone else that they will be suddenly, after this interview, completely unrelated to this interview, completely unrelated to anything she said, move her to a prison unsuitable for a sex offender. You want the American people to believe that? Do you think they’re stupid?” Schiff asked.
In forcefully responding to Schiff, Patel picked a battle with someone seen as a top foe to Trump.
Trump has repeatedly targeted Schiff and routinely hurls insults at the lawmaker, who was a central figure in his first impeachment.
The administration has launched a probe into the senator, suggesting he wrongly obtained more favorable lending conditions for his Washington-area home — a claim the lawmaker denies and says was spurred as a guise for going after him as a top Trump adversary.
The outburst was the second heated exchange Tuesday, with Patel and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) also getting into a shouting match after the lawmaker said he did not expect Patel would have his job for much longer.
“Because of your failures of leadership, I don’t think you’re fit to lead the bureau. Here’s the thing, Mr. Patel, I think you’re not going to be around long. I think this might be your last full oversight hearing. Because as much as you supplicate yourself to the will of Donald Trump and not the Constitution of the United States of America, Donald Trump has shown us in his first term, and in this term, he is not loyal to people like you. He will cut you loose,” Booker said.
“This may be the last time I have a hearing with you, because I don’t think you’re long for your job.”
