FBI Director Kash Patel walked into the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday expecting tough questions.
What he got from Democratic Sen. Cory Booker was a full-blown confrontation.
Patel’s latest appearance before Congress quickly descended into a fiery spectacle as Democratic senators grilled the Trump-appointed FBI director over his management of the bureau, investigations involving journalists, the firing of experienced agents, government-funded travel and his use of FBI resources.
Then Booker got his turn.
The New Jersey Democrat pressed Patel over reporting surrounding the security detail assigned to Patel’s girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins.
Booker asked whether FBI agents had interviewed Wilkins following reporting by New York Times journalist Elizabeth Williamson about her security arrangements.
Patel immediately pushed back.
But Booker wasn’t interested in letting him dodge the question.
As the exchange grew increasingly heated, Booker accused Patel of failing to provide a straightforward answer and continued pressing him over the bureau’s treatment of journalists and its use of government resources.
And that was only the beginning.
When Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley attempted to bring Booker’s questioning to an end, Booker protested that Republican Sen. Mike Lee had previously been permitted to go beyond his allotted time.
“No sir, my time is not up,” Booker shot back.
That sparked another confrontation — this time between Booker and Grassley.
Booker argued that Democratic senators were being prevented from getting basic answers from Patel while the FBI director was repeatedly allowed to insult lawmakers questioning him.
Then Booker announced that he would make his concluding remarks.
And he absolutely unloaded.
“We don’t have an FBI director,” Booker declared.
Instead, Booker said the country had an “incompetent lackey” running the bureau.
Then came perhaps the most brutal line of the entire hearing.
Booker compared Patel to an 18-year-old desperate to get into a fraternity, “doing keg stands and chugging with friends.”
“He’s an embarrassment to the agency and wouldn’t qualify even to be an FBI agent,” Booker said.
Patel was sitting right there.
Booker continued, accusing the FBI director of refusing to answer legitimate congressional oversight questions while attacking Democrats and intimidating journalists.
The hearing became so contentious that Grassley himself eventually snapped during the dispute, asking Booker whether he was “ready to shut up.”
Booker refused to back down.
He told Grassley that he respected him but accused the Republican chairman of failing to hold Patel to the same standard when Democrats demanded answers.
Patel eventually got his chance to respond.
Rather than directly addressing Booker’s broader criticism, Patel pointed to Booker’s earlier accusation that he had behaved “like a thug” toward journalists.
“This guy called me a thug,” Patel complained, before suggesting Booker had just created material for a future presidential campaign ad.
There was one problem with that jab.
Booker hasn’t announced a presidential campaign.
And the extraordinary Booker-Patel confrontation was hardly the only controversy to emerge from Tuesday’s marathon hearing.
Patel faced bipartisan questioning about changes to FBI hiring guidelines, taxpayer-funded travel, investigations of journalists, the firing of FBI personnel and the bureau’s potential role surrounding the upcoming midterm elections.
At one point, Patel confirmed that roughly a dozen FBI Iran experts had been fired over what he characterized as previous “weaponization” efforts connected to the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents.
He also refused to give Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar the broad assurance she sought that the FBI would not interfere in the upcoming election, though he said the bureau would follow laws restricting agents from being deployed inside polling places.
But it was the confrontation with Booker that produced the hearing’s most explosive moment.
Because Booker wasn’t simply questioning Patel’s policies.
He was questioning whether the man sitting in front of him was fit to run the FBI at all.
And he told him so directly to his face.
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