{"id":464485,"date":"2026-09-15T13:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/464485\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T13:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:24:10","slug":"fbi-chief-kash-patel-set-to-face-off-with-democrats-at-senate-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/464485\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI chief Kash Patel set to face off with Democrats at Senate hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ERIC TUCKER<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 FBI Director Kash Patel<\/a> is set to return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n

The Republican-led panel is likely to try to keep the focus on Patel\u2019s efforts to combat violent crime, counter drug trafficking and pursue the Trump administration\u2019s agenda from his perch at the nation\u2019s premier federal law enforcement agency.<\/p>\n

But Democrats will almost certainly seize on the tumult inside the bureau over the last year, including sweeping firings<\/a> of agents who participated in investigations into President Donald Trump, efforts by the bureau to investigate Trump\u2019s perceived political adversaries<\/a> and Patel\u2019s travel schedule<\/a> that has blended private leisure with professional responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Patel has made multiple appearances before Congress while serving as director, including to testify about the FBI\u2019s budget, but this will be his first time since last September before the Senate committee that has principal oversight jurisdiction over the bureau.<\/p>\n

That hearing featured feisty and personal exchanges<\/a> with Democrats, with Patel at one point shouting over Sen. Adam Schiff of California as he called him an \u201cutter disgrace\u201d and a \u201ccoward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can make an internet troll the FBI director, but he will always be an internet troll,\u201d Schiff shot back.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s hearing is expected to be no less contentious given Democrats\u2019 fierce criticism of his leadership and conduct. The panel\u2019s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, called for Patel to be replaced as director in April following an article by The Atlantic magazine that raised allegations of excessive drinking.<\/p>\n

Patel later filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit<\/a>, calling the article false and a \u201cmalicious hit piece.\u201d The Atlantic said it stood by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the \u201cmeritless lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ERIC TUCKER WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 FBI Director Kash Patel is set to return to Capitol Hill on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1055,7658,182899,74,76,75,18764,18451],"class_list":["post-464485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-fbi","tag-kash-patel","tag-kash-patel-senate-hearing","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-senate","tag-senate-judiciary-committee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}