FBI Director Kash Patel didn't win any new fans inside the bureau after his testimony on Capitol Hill, according to MS NOW's Ken Dilanian.
The FBI director faced tough questions from Democratic lawmakers during a Justice Department budget hearing about his alleged drinking and his investigations of President Donald Trump's political enemies, and Dilanian told "Ana Cabrera Reports" that Patel enjoys little support from the bureau's rank-and-file employees.
"Well, look, I'm sure thereare currently serving FBIagents who are big fans of Kash Patel, but I just haven't metany of them," Dilanian said. "The people Italked to are largely disgustedwith the way he conductshimself, and really, that's inkeeping with the way a lot of Trump senior cabinet officialshandle these congressionalhearings. He came armed withopposition research."
"We didn'tplay this part, but he tried to accuse [Sen.] Chris Van Hollen ofrunning up a large bar tab andof sharing a drink with Kilmar Ábrego García when he went down tosee him in El Salvador," he added. "Van Hollen later said he didn'tactually sip from that drink."
Democratic grilling served a long-term strategic purpose, Dilanian said.
"But I think what happened therewas quite important, actually,and it was the first thing that Democrats did," Dilanian said. "They wanted toget Kash Patel under oath,denying one of the allegationsin the Atlantic magazine story,which was that he has onoccasion been so heavily drunkthe night before that hissecurity detail had troublewaking him up in the morning, and that's a very specificallegation that members of thesecurity detail would knowwhether it's true or not."
"If Democrats regain power inthe fall, they're going to beable to bring those some ofthose people up to the Hill,whether behind closed doors ornot, and get them under oathand see what they have to sayabout this and get to thebottom of this, and if Kash Patel didn't tell the truth there, he's going to have a bigproblem," Dilanian. "But, you know, look,the way this is being greetedinside the FBI is, is just alot of head shaking about theway that Kash Patel conductshimself."