'You're under oath!' Senator confronts Kash Patel with his own words about 'deep state'
Sen. Amy Klobuchar reminded FBI Director nominee Kash Patel he was under oath when he said he was unable to recall statements he made about enemies in the 'deep state.'
"Is Bill Barr on your list, of whatever you want to call them — what has been referred to as an enemies list? You have called them 'deep state' — after serving his country as the attorney general of the United States. Is he on your list because of a personal vendetta?" Klobuchar asked.
"Well, it's not 'whatever we want to call it.' It is not an enemies list. That is a mischaracterization," Patel shot back.
"I actually used the words you used for the list, which was 'deep state,' right? Against the attorney general of the United States," Klobuchar said. "Is it because of a personal vendetta that he is on the list? You're under oath!"
"I have no personal vendetta against Bill Barr," Patel said.
ALSO READ: Top GOPer's ‘most immediate’ priority for new committee includes probing a MAGA conspiracy
Toward the end of the first round of questioning, Klobuchar grew animated when she couldn't get an answer to her deep state question and Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) tried to move on.
"Did you say the FBI headquarters should be shut down and reopened as a museum of the deep state?" Klobuchar asked.
"Mr. Chairman, are we allowed to go on extra time?" Patel asked Grassley.
"Let's see, you get a second round," Grassley said. "Before I call on Senator — "
Klobuchar interrupted and banged on the table, "Could he just answer the question, if he said the FBI headquarters where they investigate cyber crime and terrorism should shut down and open as a museum? Did he say that the headquarters should be shut down? I deserve an answer to that question! He is asking to be head of the FBI and he said their headquarters should be shut down!"
"You got anything you want to say, Mr. Patel before I go on to Senator Lee?" Grassley asked.
Patel went on to call the accusations against him "grotesquely unfair," prompting Klobuchar to explode.
"Mr. chairman, I am quoting his own words from September of 2024. It is his own words! It is not some conspiracy. It is what Mr. Patel actually said himself! Facts matter!"