Dems grill Patel on sex with animals, drinking on the job, frat boy goals in off-the-rails hearing: Shut up
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats grilled FBI boss Kash Patel on whether the bureau hires people who had sex with animals, blasted him as a “thug,” and accused him of being a drunk during an off-the-rails Judiciary Committee hearing.Patel had been summoned before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a routine oversight hearing and came prepared to crow about plummeting crime rates, but Democrats derailed that plan by latching onto a litany of scandals during the explosive confrontation instead.“You have been so drunk that briefings have been rescheduled so you could sleep it off,” Sen.Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) swiped, goading him into taking an alcohol test.Patel, who showed up to the hearing armed with opposition research notes against his Democratic foes, did a double-take upon hearing that and shook his head, but Hirono didn’t give him a chance to respond.The premise of Hirono’s claim stems from a bombshell report in The Atlantic about Patel’s alleged drinking habits, which prompted him to slap a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the outlet.
Fueling that narrative was footage of Patel chugging beer with the US men’s Olympic hockey champion team.“The players who are my friends invited me to the locker room,” Patel fired back when asked about the chugging by Sen.Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
“I go where I want to go after delivering the most prolific crime reduction in US history.”But that did little to mollify the attacks.“He’s like an 18-year-old kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends,” Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ) chided.
“He’s an embarrassment.He is a disgrace.
This is a mockery and a sham.What’s bad are the people enabling him.”Booker, who ran for president in 2020 and has a knack for impassioned screeds at hearings, raged at Republicans for allowing Patel to lash out at Welch as a “complete and total fraud.” He accused Patel of using the FBI’s resourc...