Kash Patel hit with blistering line of questioning over 'gross dereliction of duty'

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) fired off serious questions on Tuesday during a congressional hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel, pressing the agency's leader over allegations of heavy alcohol use and reports of Patel purging agents who were linked to Trump investigations.

Van Hollen directly spoke to Patel about the concerns he has and laid out multiple reports that he found troubling during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in Washington, D.C.

"Because what we are learning about what's happening at the FBI is anything but normal," Van Hollen said. "Director Patel, as you ask for more taxpayer resources, we cannot look away from the credible, extremely troubling reports about your misconduct at the FBI."

"Director Patel, I don't care one bit about your private life and I don't give a damn about what you do on your own time and your own dime, unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities," Van Hollen said. "Being the director of the FBI is an awesome responsibility and when your private actions make it impossible for you to perform your public duties, we have a big problem. You cannot perform those public duties if you are incapacitated. And Director Patel, these reports about your conduct, including reports of your being so drunk and hungover that your staff had to force entry into your home, are extremely alarming. If true, they demonstrate a gross dereliction of your duty and a betrayal of public trust. I cannot imagine ever having to worry about former FBI Directors Wray or Mueller spending multiple weekends drinking heavily at the Poodle Room in Las Vegas."

Patel has denied these reports.

"The problem with your leadership is it does not end there," Van Hollen added. "We're also witnessing a litany of other abuses — political firings of trusted career agents whose only fault was following the facts and the law, that includes the firing of agents and staff from a special counterintelligence unit that monitored threats from Iran, weaponizing the FBI to seek political revenge on former FBI Director James Comey and others, using FBI investigative resources to go after journalists who write stories that you don't like."