FBI Director Kash Patel and Democratic Rep. Madeline Dean clashed during a heated House subcommittee hearing, with Patel accusing Dean of misrepresenting facts and Dean charging that the FBI under Patel had been weaponised to pursue political enemies.Dean, who served as an impeachment manager during President Trump’s second impeachment trial, launched a pointed line of questioning at Patel. “As you and the president continue to weaponise and investigate his perceived enemies… when can I, a former impeachment manager, expect the FBI at my door?” she asked.Patel shot back, “Ma’am. You want to know who was targeted by a weaponised FBI? Me. You want to know how and why? You want to know what I’m doing to fix it?”As Dean attempted to move on, Patel continued, “You should read the book, because there’s no enemies list in that book. There are people that violated their constitutional obligations and their duties to the American people, and they were rightly called out. And you should give that book to every one of your constituents so they can read about it.”Dean then accused Patel of dishonesty during his Senate confirmation hearings, referring to his denial of involvement in the firing of FBI officials after the January 6 riot and his repeated appearances on the podcast of Stu Peters, whom she labelled “an anti-Semitic Holocaust denier”.She asked, “Should we worry more about your memory or your veracity?”Patel hit back strongly. “We should worry more about your lack of candour. 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.”He added, “The answer is both. I believe that the answer is you’re failing. Not me.”Dean insisted the FBI’s rank-and-file deserved better. “I believe that the members of the FBI… deserve the very best, deserve extraordinary independence, deserve freedom from the fears of being investigated.”The tense exchange came as Patel also faced criticism over a proposed $500 million cut to the FBI’s 2026 budget, backed by the Trump White House. Though the administration framed the cuts as a move to “streamline” the bureau, Patel warned such reductions would harm the agency’s capacity to tackle violent crime.“We need more than what has been proposed,” he told lawmakers, adding that the FBI was working on relocating 1,000 staff to areas most affected by violent crime. “We’ve taken a process… and said, ‘Where are some of the most violent crime places in America?’”When pressed on which positions would be cut if the funding decrease goes ahead, Patel responded, “At this time, we have not looked at who to cut. We are focusing our energies on how not to have them cut.”
