Embattled FBI director Kash Patel faced down a combative Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, defending his still-young tenure amid allegations of politically motivated firings, lowered bureau standards, and a bungled investigation into the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. 

The hearing, which lasted four-and-a-half hours without interruption, occasionally devolved into chaos, punctuated by two confrontations between Mr. Patel and Senate Democrats.

Pressed by Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat of California, over the Trump administration’s decision to transfer convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum-security prison, Mr. Patel erupted, calling him “the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate.”

“You are a political buffoon at best,” Mr. Patel shouted.

“You can make an internet troll the FBI director, but (he) will always be nothing more than an internet troll,” Mr. Schiff replied. 

Throughout the hearing, Mr. Patel touted his FBI’s accomplishments while butting heads with Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats by refusing to identify FBI personnel or provide the exact number of personnel who have been removed from the FBI’s ranks allegedly for working investigations involving President Trump. He was confronted about his use of an FBI private jet, attending NHL games, and a lawsuit by three former FBI officials who say he ousted them at Mr. Trump’s behest.

“Anyone that was terminated at the FBI was done so for failing to meet the standards, uphold their constitutional oath, and effectuate the mission,” Mr. Patel told Mr. Schiff, when asked if the firings were political retribution.

The hearing was also highlighted by an explosive back-and-forth between Mr. Patel and Senator Booker, a Democrat of New Jersey, who predicted that his appearance would be the director’s last oversight committee hearing. 

“Donald Trump has shown us in his first term, and in this term, he is not loyal to people like you. He will cut you loose. This may be the last time I have a hearing with you, because I don’t think you’re long for your job,”  Mr. Booker said, brushing aside protests from Senate Republicans.

“That rant of false information does not bring this country together,” Mr. Patel fired back.

Addressing the Kirk investigation, Mr. Patel defended his handling of the manhunt, which included  prematurely announcing that a suspect had been apprehended. He told Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican of Missouri, that the investigation was looking at more than 20 individuals involved in a Discord chat that suspected killer Tyler Robinson used prior to the shooting.

“We are going to be investigating anyone and everyone involved in that Discord chat,” Mr. Patel said.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Patel defended his decision to release images of the Kirk gunman, saying that quick transparency led to the suspect’s father recognizing him and ultimately turning him in.

He went on to list the FBI’s “exponential” increases in violent criminal arrests, illegal firearms seizures, and arrests related to sexual predators. He pointed to Operation Summer Heat, fentanyl seizures, and decreases in national murder rate as proof of the FBI’s success under his watch. 

“I’m honored to be the ninth Director of the FBI. I’m not going anywhere. If you want to criticize my 16 years of service, please bring it on,” Mr. Patel, a former federal public defender and senior national security officer, said during the hearing.

Mr. Patel smirked when Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois, called Mr. Patel “arguably the most partisan FBI director ever” and his co-deputy director, Dan Bongino, a “conspiracy theorist.”

Mr. Durbin singled out Mr. Patel’s  decision to announce a suspect’s arrest in the Kirk case, saying he “violated one of the basics of effective law enforcement at critical stages of an investigation: shut up and let the professionals do their job.”

Mr. Patel fielded similar concerns from Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat of Vermont, but continued to defend his actions, saying his priority was transparency.

“So in my commitment to work with the public to help identify subjects and suspects, I put that information out, and then when we interviewed him, I put out the results of that. And could I have been more careful in my verbiage and included ‘a subject’ instead of ‘subject’? Sure,” Mr. Patel replied.

The hearing also touched on the FBI and Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and its decision to determine his death a suicide. 

Senator Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, urged Mr. Patel to release all Epstein files, warning the FBI director that it was an issue that “was not going to go away.”

“I think the essential question for the American people is this, they know that Epstein trafficked young women for sex to himself. They want to know who, if anyone else, he trafficked these young women to. And that’s a very fair question,” Senator Kennedy said.

Mr. Patel said there was “no credible information” that Epstein trafficked young women to anyone else other than himself. 

The 45-year-old FBI director was also pressed on reports that agents were subjected to polygraph tests to root out Mr. Patel’s critics. Mr. Patel denied retaliation, saying polygraph tests have been used by the FBI in the past to stop leaks.

Addressing reports that the FBI was offering an abridged version of its new agent training program at Quantico to qualified 1811s – the Office of Personnel Management’s designation given to criminal investigators  — from other federal law enforcement agencies, Mr. Patel defended the decision, saying he was “expanding”the training requirements. 

He said he was keeping the “18-week” basic field training course — although it was reduced to 16 weeks in 2023 — intact. 

“We’re looking for where the need is greatest, where in the country we need to send them, and how we can change the training requirements, which is why I’m thrilled to have police officers. They might not have a college degree, but they got the street smarts and the cop smarts to become FBI agents and that’s what we want,” Mr. Patel said. 

Mr. Patel is scheduled to testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.