FBI Director Kash Patel appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies on the FBI’s budget request for the coming year.
But it seems like at least one Democrat representative wanted to turn it into drama theater by going after Patel. During the hearing, Rep. Madeline Dean (D-PA) claimed that Trump and Patel were “continuing to weaponize and investigate [Trump’s] perceived enemies.”
“When can I, as a former impeachment manager, expect the FBI at my door?” she ranted. Was she watching what went on under the Biden administration? The House had to create a new subcommittee to look into weaponization. Those are the issues that she should be asking about, not Patel or President Donald Trump. This took some nerve on her part. But Kash Patel was not going to let her get away with that.
That’s when he shot down her premise. “You want to know who was targeted by a weaponized FBI?” Patel replied. “Me!”
He said if she wanted to know why, she should “read the book.” He also asked her if she wanted to know what he was doing to fix it, noting there was no “enemies list” in the book, but there were “people who violated their Constitutional obligations and duties.”
However, once he went back at her like that, she immediately started talking over him and saying it was time to “move on.” He said she should read it and have her constituents read it. Dean said she would not be doing that, he responded, “That’s their loss.” When she has to “move on,” you know who lost that exchange.
Dean tried again, accusing Patel of previously committing perjury. That was similarly unsuccessful. During her rant, she claimed that “violent rioters beat and killed Capitol Police officers.” No Capitol Police officers were killed during the action on Jan. 6, so there was a problem with what she had to say just with that alone. One officer had a stroke and died the following day.
“Should we worry more about your memory or your veracity?” Dean demanded. That’s funny, given what she said, what about her “memory or veracity”?
Patel torpedoed her effort and called her out for what he thought she was doing.
“We should worry more about your lack of candor. You’re accusing me of committing perjury. Tell the American people how I broke the law and committed a felony. Have the audacity to actually put the facts forward instead of lying for political banter so you can have a 20-second donation hit.”
Oof, now that’s brutal. If she was trying for that, I think she failed badly.
But this is one of the reasons it’s important to have a good U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in the seat. So the battle for justice will not just stall out.
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Patel also showed he isn’t afraid to call out Democrats, coming right back at her. She thought she was going to torch him, but found out, instead, that it backfired on her.
