WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� FBI Director Kash Patel angrily lashed out at a Democratic lawmaker at a budget hearing Tuesday, calling on the job and has been unreachable to his staff at times 鈥渦nequivocally, categorically false.鈥�
鈥淚 will not be tarnished by baseless allegations and fraudulent statements to the media,鈥� Patel told Sen. Chris Van Hollen during a testy exchange that began when the Maryland Democrat confronted him about a recent article in The Atlantic magazine that painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership of the nation鈥檚 premier federal law enforcement agency.
Patel has . The Atlantic has said it stands by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the 鈥渕eritless lawsuit.鈥�
Patel shouted over Van Hollen and sought to turn the tables by accusing him of 鈥渟linging margaritas on the taxpayer dime鈥� in El Salvador, a reference to a visit the Democrat paid last year to while he was jailed there following his mistaken deportation to the country. 鈥淭he only person who has been drinking during the day on the taxpayer dime was you.鈥�
鈥淒irector Patel, come on,鈥� Van Hollen said. 鈥淭hese are serious allegations that were made against you.鈥� He at one point asked Patel if he was willing to take a test meant to measure whether an individual has a drinking problem, prompting Patel to shoot back, 鈥淚鈥檒l take any test you鈥檙e willing to take.鈥�
The senator also called Patel’s claims that he had run up an expensive bar tab in El Salvador 鈥減rovably false.” After last year’s meeting, of having misrepresented the nature of his encounter with Abrego Garcia, saying officials there had staged the meeting with drinks appearing to be alcohol and angled to set the meeting by a hotel pool.
The testy exchange occurred at an annual Senate committee budget hearing featuring Patel and other senior law enforcement leaders. The director used the forum to tout what he described as major crime-fighting achievements since he took the position and received a friendly reception from Republican senators who praised his leadership.
Democrats, by contrast, pressed Patel on headline-generating travel that has blended personal leisure with his duties 鈥� including a trip to the Winter Olympics in Italy, 鈥� who worked on investigations into President Donald Trump.
鈥淵ou attended the Olympics in Milan,鈥� said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat. 鈥淗ow much did your trip cost and to what extent did that help you carry out your mission as director of the FBI?鈥�
Patel responded that the FBI was responsible for security at the Olympics and asserted that his trip to Italy helped facilitate the transfer into U.S. custody of a Chinese cyber criminal who’d been detained by Italian authorities.
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