FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 15, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
FBI Director Kash Patel derailed a Senate oversight hearing with personal attacks on a Democratic senator until the Republican presiding over it banged his gavel and ordered him to stop.
The clash came Tuesday at the Senate Judiciary Committee's annual oversight hearing on the FBI, Patel's second since taking over the bureau.
Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) had spent his questioning time pressing Patel on whether the FBI would send agents to polling places in November. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was presiding.
"Do you pledge that you will not, in any way, interfere in the will of the American people when they go to the polls in November?" Welch asked.
"I pledge unequivocally that I will not participate in your charade of lies," Patel replied.
"Then why are you being such a panderer to President Trump, who's still claiming that he won the 2020 election and who has said the only way Democrats can win in 2026 is if they cheat?" Welch continued. "Do you believe that?"
President Donald Trump has made that accusation repeatedly. In his State of the Union address, he said Democrats' policies were so unpopular that cheating was their only route to office, NPR reported. He offered no evidence.
"What I believe in is the rule of law. And I will always execute it," Patel said.
"Are you saying in advance that you're not gonna accept election — that it's been rigged?" Welch pressed.
"I wanna know how your wealth increased 4,000% since you became a United States senator," Patel shot back. "That's a magic act."
"Let's knock it off!" Cornyn said, banging his gavel and directing Welch to resume his questions and Patel to answer them.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) had told Patel in his prepared opening statement that Democrats would question his ethics and truthfulness, and urged him not to respond with personal attacks of his own.
Welch then turned to the $250 million defamation lawsuit Patel filed in April against The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick, CNN reported.
Her article said Patel had alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences. The magazine said it stood by the reporting and called the suit meritless, according to CNN.
"According to your complaint, these are your words, that she wrote you were 'known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication in many cases' in a private club at Ned's in Washington, D.C.," Welch said. "She also wrote you are 'known to drink to excess' at the Poodle Room in Las Vegas."
"As a U.S. citizen, I have every right to claim the truth," Patel said. "She printed false material."
"You're answering a question I didn't ask," Welch interjected.
"I am allowed to participate in my own defense," Patel said.
"Did the FBI investigate the author of this article, Ms. Fitzpatrick?" Welch asked.
"No. You hard of hearing?" Patel said. "I just said no."
"It's the American people — Republicans and Democrats and independents — who have to be the deciders of who their representatives in Congress are," Welch said. "Not the president of the United States, not an FBI, a compliant, servile FBI director who does the will of the president."