Kash Patel defends FBIs new policy on bestiality at Senate hearing

FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday found himself defending a new policy at the bureau that does not immediately disqualify potential hires who have engaged in bestiality.At a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, some senators grilled Patel about the new standards, which he said were established so as not to discriminate against potential victims of sex trafficking who were forced to perform acts of bestiality.His explanation elicited curious responses, one from Sen.John Kennedy, R-La., who asked Patel why he would “even get into bestiality.”Patel quickly emphasized that “we’re not into bestiality,” to which Kennedy said, “I know you’re not,” prompting a chuckle from Patel, who said he was trying to explain the policy.Kennedy asked, “If Joe participated in bestiality, not as animal but as the human, don’t you think he ought to be disqualified?”“If he voluntarily did it, sure.

But if he was trafficked into it ...,” Patel responded.Kennedy went on to ask how a person would “involuntarily do it.” Patel said human traffickers forced people into types of conduct like bestiality and “degrading acts of all kinds” in “a lot of cases.”He said people at the bureau who suggested the policy change “explained to me and showed me cases in which people were forced into it and had applied to the FBI, and so I thought they should be considered.It’s not an automatic disqualification.”Patel said that the previous policy addressed prostitution, trafficking and bestiality and that for bestiality, the rules “automatically disqualified any individual who participated on either side of it.”“Either side of what? The bestiality?” Kennedy asked.

“So you disqualified the animal?”“Well, I don’t think — we have great canines, but we’re not going to disqualify them,” Patel said.Add to GoogleFBI Director Patel clashes with lawmakers during Senate Judiciary hearing02:56Sen.Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also inquired about the polic...