FBI Director Kash Patel appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday for an oversight hearing covering his leadership of the bureau, and a testy exchange with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) over a records request drew wide attention.
Hirono pressed Patel on when the FBI would respond to a letter the committee had sent seeking information. Patel told her the bureau had already answered.
HIRONO: When will you respond to our letter?
PATEL: I gave a full analysis and response.
HIRONO: When will you respond?
PATEL: I already responded. The letter is public.
Hirono then asked him to hand over the response directly. Patel repeated that the reply was already public record, telling her to look it up. Hirono responded, “I assume there is no response.”
Following the hearing, the FBI posted a graphic on X pointing to the publicly available response, underscoring Patel’s claim that the letter had already been answered.
The Hirono exchange came during the same hearing in which Patel also had a heated back-and-forth with Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) over the bureau’s operations. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) was not part of the Senate hearing but has separately drawn attention this week for his handling of witnesses and reporters in other proceedings.
The hearing was part of the Judiciary Committee’s ongoing oversight of Patel’s tenure at the FBI, touching on a range of topics beyond the records dispute.
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