'You're a disgrace': Kash Patel denies lying and excessive drinking at Senate hearing

Patel was question about reports alleging he drank so much that it raised concerns about his ability to do his job or be reached quickly in a crisis.

Washington: FBI Director Kash Patel offered a series of angry, insult-laden denials to Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday in response to questions about his conduct, including whether he drank to excess, forced subordinates to take polygraph exams and made false statements to Congress.

The remarks, delivered at a hearing ostensibly about the coming budget for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, veered from sedate exchanges about operational matters to ugly personal confrontations, particularly between Patel and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

“You are a disgrace, Mr. Director,” the senator declared toward the end of the hearing.

Van Hollen had pressed Patel about an article in The Atlantic that asserted that the FBI director drank so much that it raised concerns about his ability to do his job or be reached quickly in a crisis. Patel has vehemently denied those claims, filing a defamation suit over the article.

“I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations,” Patel said angrily. The director went on to accuse Van Hollen of inappropriate drinking, pointing to a visit the senator made to El Salvador last April to meet Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an immigrant the Trump administration mistakenly sent from Maryland to a high-security foreign prison.

“The only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gangbanging rapist was you,” Patel charged.

Photographs from the meeting taken by the Salvadoran government show what appear to be mixed drinks on the table where Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia met. Van Hollen has long said that government officials placed the drinks there to make Abrego Garcia’s life as a prisoner look less punishing.

Patel’s accusation also mischaracterized Abrego Garcia, who has never been convicted of a sex crime or of being part of a gang. He briefly had a restraining order against him.

Van Hollen shook his head at the FBI director’s claims. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” the senator said.

He more or less dared Patel to take a type of questionnaire used to help determine if a person has a drinking problem.

Patel immediately accepted the challenge, saying he would take one if the senator would also do so.

“Let’s go, side by side,” Patel said defiantly.

Patel’s heated exchanges were reminiscent of his former boss, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and her tendency to respond to difficult questions at congressional hearings with insults and criticism of lawmakers. Bondi was fired by President Donald Trump last month.

Other exchanges Patel had with Democrats on Tuesday were hostile but not vitriolic.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she had “deep concern” about Patel’s leadership skills, noting he had been videotaped guzzling a beer and celebrating with the U.S. men’s hockey team in Milan after it won Olympic gold.

“If you want to pass out liquor or pop bottles in a locker room, stick to podcasting,” Murray said, referring to Patel’s previous career.

In response, Patel held up a sheet of arrest and crime statistics. Murders in the United States fell by roughly 20% in 2025, and Patel cited that statistic and others to argue that the bureau had performed well under his leadership.

Republicans largely praised the FBI director. Sen. Katie Britt thanked him effusively for the bureau’s work in her home state of Alabama.

Patel denied reports that he had forced subordinates to undergo polygraph examinations in an effort to find out who had leaked stories about his management. “I don’t order any polygraph tests,” he insisted. Multiple people familiar with those internal investigations have said they were ordered by the director.

Van Hollen used his final salvo to directly accuse Patel of misleading Congress.

“You made a couple provably false statements,” Van Hollen said, referring to Patel’s earlier claims about meeting Abrego Garcia in El Salvador. “Coming from the mouth of an FBI director, to make provably false statements in a hearing like this is extremely troubling.”

He asked: “Do you know that it is a crime to lie to Congress?”

“I have not lied to Congress,” Patel replied.