Durbin Delivers Opening Statement In Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing With FBI Director Patel

Durbin Delivers Opening Statement In Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing With FBI Director Patel

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered an opening statement at a Senate Judiciary Oversight Committee hearing with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel. Durbin's opening statement condemned Patel's partisan and incompetent mismanagement of the FBI, highlighted the unprecedented purge of FBI officials, shared reports that Director Patel initiated loyalty tests, criticized his fumbling of Epstein-related materials, and denounced his release of false information about Charlie Kirk's assassination.

Key Quotes:

"After his second election, in an unprecedented move, President Trump forced out Director Wray and nominated Kash Patel, arguably the most partisan FBI Director ever. Director Patel came to the FBI with a political mission. He wrote [ in Government Gangsters]: 'the rot at the core of the FBI isn't just scandalous, it's an existential threat to our republican form of government.' And with the power of his office and the blessing of the President, he attacked the FBI with a vengeance."

"Mr. Patel had falsely claimed the FBI 'was planning January 6 for a year,' and produced a song by January 6 rioters who violently assaulted police officers. He compiled an enemies list of public servants he called 'government gangsters,' like former FBI Director Mueller, whom Patel called 'an utter swamp creature.'"

"Since January 20, the Trump Administration has engaged in an unprecedented purge of FBI officials. As we heard from highly-credible whistleblowers, Mr. Patel was involved in directing this purge even before he was confirmed, despite his sworn testimony to this Committee. It began with the terminations and forced retirements of all six nonpartisan, career officials who ran the six branches of the FBI-the Executive Assistant Directors. Since then, at least 18 of the 53 Special Agents in Charge of FBI Field Offices have been removed, along with many other senior officials."

"At the same time, Director Patel has installed MAGA loyalists as political appointees in key career positions, including conspiracy theorist Dan Bongino as FBI Deputy Director, the first time in FBI history that this position has not been held by a career FBI agent."

"Director Patel has also reportedly initiated loyalty tests, requiring dozens of officials to sit for polygraph exams and answer inappropriate questions about whether they have made negative comments about him. Of course, as is often the case in the Trump Administration, the rules apply to thee but not to me. As I understand it from highly-credible sources, key members of Director Patel's senior executive team and others on the 7th floor had disqualifying alerts on their initial polygraph exams. How did they survive? They survived because of a personal waiver by either the Director or the Attorney General to remain employed by the Bureau."

"Director Patel had no training or life experience for this position. The results of that incompetence are staggering. For example, after Attorney General Bondi publicly stated in February that the Epstein client list was 'sitting on my desk right now to review,' Director Patel diverted more than a thousand FBI personnel from their critical missions to work on 24-hour shifts reviewing over 100,000 pages of Epstein-related records. These personnel were instructed to 'flag' any records in which President Trump was named. But that review ended in an unsigned memorandum from DOJ and FBI stating simply, 'there is no incriminating client list.' Director Patel has still not responded to my letter from two months ago asking about his role in this cover-up."

"On the day of the horrific shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, Director Patel again sparked mass confusion by incorrectly claiming on social media that the shooter was in custody-which he then had to walk back with another social media post. Mr. Patel was so anxious to take credit for finding Mr. Kirk's assassin that he violated one of the basics of effective law enforcement: at critical stages of an investigation, shut up and let the professionals do their job."

"The men and women who serve at the FBI-and the American people-deserve an FBI director who has the ability and character to restore the Bureau to its place as the preeminent federal law enforcement agency."

"I want to close on a personal note. I came of age in the 1960s. We experienced a number of horrific assassinations, including President John Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King. We are going through a similar period of division and political violence. And all of us in public life, on both sides of the aisle, have a responsibility to bring down the temperature and work to unite the American people."

"Let's be clear. Republicans are not Nazis. And Democrats are not 'evil,' as Mr. Patel has claimed. Democrats are not responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk, as Republicans were not responsible for the murder of Melissa Hortman. Our political opponents are not our enemies. We are all Americans. And we should be working together to keep the American people safe and protect their constitutional rights."

Video of Durbin's opening statement is available here.

Audio of Durbin's opening statement is available here.

Footage of Durbin's opening statement is available here for TV Stations.

Today's hearing is the first time Director Patel has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee as Director. During Durbin's four years as Chair of the Committee, he held four hearings with then-FBI Director Wray.

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