Hawley Secures Commitment from FBI Director Patel to Investigate Anti-Christian Violence & AI Chatbots

Hawley Secures Commitment from FBI Director Patel to Investigate Anti-Christian Violence & AI Chatbots

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) secured a commitment from FBI Director Kash Patel to further investigate the harms of AI chatbots and anti-Christian violence in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination.

"I want to start by talking to you about the tide of violence that we have seen, ideological violence against people of faith, particularly Christians," Senator Hawley said. "Is the FBI investigating the Kirk assassination as part of this broader pattern of anti-religious, anti-Christian violence?"

FBI Director Patel responded, "We are investigating Charlie's assassination fully and completely and running out every lead related to any allegation of broader violence, and we're producing results… Unfortunately, it has been leaked that there was a Discord chat, and for those unfamiliar with it, it's a gaming chat room online that the suspect participated in… and we're also going to be investigating anyone and everyone involved in that Discord chat."

Senator Hawley then asked, "I see the public reports that the Discord thread had as many as 20 additional users. It sounds like you're trying to run down all of that to see if that's accurate, who else may have been on that thread, is that fair to say?"

Director Patel revealed, "It's a lot more than that and we're running them all down."

Turning to the broader question of anti-religious violence, Senator Hawley asked,"What is the FBI doing to take on this rising tide of violence that seems to be motivated by anti-religious hatred?"

Director Patel replied, "Publicly, I can tell you we have five hate crime investigations with anti-Catholic bias ongoing currently… any ideologically based attack against any faith, as a man of faith myself, will not be tolerated and the full resource the FBI are committed to all of it."

Senator Hawley also asked about anti-religious investigations at the FBI under the previous administration saying, "Sadly, as you know, the FBI, when it comes to anti-religious animus, has been part of the problem before you got to this agency… How is it that the Federal Bureau of Investigation came to be recruiting informants in Christian churches in this country?"

Director Patel responded, "We made adjustments and permanent fixes to ensure that sources are not put into houses of worship unless there is an actual ongoing criminal or international terrorism threat… There have been terminations related to this, and resignations."

Senator Hawley went on to question Director Patel on the threat AI chatbots pose to minors saying, "Are you investigating any cases of AI generated child sex abuse material?"

FBI Director Patel responded, "We are investigating dozens of those matters because let me just say this, as far as the FBI is concerned, generative AI that produces CSAM, Child Sexual Abuse material, under our investigative authorities is treated as equally as if it were actual Child Sexual Abuse material. There's no difference for me or the FBI on this."

Senator Hawley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, will expand on Patel's comment regarding AI chatbots during his hearing to examine the growing harms online chatbots have posed to users, specifically children, across Big Tech platforms. The hearing will feature new testimony from parents of chatbot victims as well as AI safety experts and psychologists-one of whom recently issued a health advisory for AI chatbots.

Watch today's full Senate Judiciary hearing here.

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