Kash Patel Challenges Democrat Senator To Take Joint Alcohol Test in Fiery Senate Hearing

During a fiery exchange Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel challenged Senator Chris Van Hollen to join him in taking an alcohol test, one of many rejoinders offered at the Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing to review the FBI’s budget.Appearing alongside the heads of other federal law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service, Mr. Patel was equal parts respectful and downright churlish responding to questions about his tenure at the FBI. He largely avoided contact with Mr. Van Hollen as the Democrat from Maryland asked questions about “extremely troubling reports” of the director’s alleged excessive drinking and other misconduct while on the job. “I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations,” Mr. Patel replied, offering a scathing retort in which he referenced the Maryland senator’s April 2025 visit to El Salvador to meet with President Nayib Bukele and share “margaritas with a felon” — alleged MS-13 gang member, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is at the center of a protracted battle over his deportation to his native country from Maryland. “The only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador with a convicted, gang-banging rapist was you,” Mr. Patel said. In the hearing that frequently strayed from budget priorities, Mr. Patel also accused Mr. Van Hollen of running up a “$7,000 bar tab” at a Washington, D.C. bar. Mr. Van Hollen responded by asking Mr. Patel if he would take the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, or AUDIT, to determine if he had a drinking problem.“I’ll take any test you’re willing to take,” Mr. Patel replied. “I will take it, Director Patel,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “Let’s go. Side-by-side,” a visibly irritated Mr. Patel fired back. Refusing to let the director have the last word, late Tuesday evening, Mr. Van Hollen reposted on X the photo of his meeting with Mr. Abrego Garcia with the statement “Glasses were placed in front of us but we did not drink them. I know that may be a confusing concept for Director Patel.”In his opening statement, Mr. Van Hollen said the Atlantic magazine’s claims of the 46-year-old FBI director’s “conspicuous inebriation” — including one incident in which his security detail requested “breaching equipment” to gain access to a room where an “unresponsive” Mr. Patel was located — demonstrated “a gross dereliction of your duty and a betrayal of public trust.”“I cannot imagine ever having to worry about former FBI Director Wray or Mueller spending multiple weekends drinking heavily at the Poodle Club in Las Vegas,” Mr. Van Hollen said.Mr. Patel called the report “a total farce.” Last month, he fired back at the Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick by filing a $250 million defamation lawsuit. Ms. Fitzpatrick responded by publishing another unflattering article highlighting Mr. Patel’s collection of Woodford Reserve whiskey bottles bearing his personal branding. Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, also used the hearing to address other widely reported controversies involving Mr. Patel, including a well-documented and rowdy visit in the locker room of the U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey team after its gold medal victory in Italy’s winter games. She said she was concerned over Mr. Patel’s perceived lack of seriousness in the role.“We need somebody at this agency who is focused on solving criminal cases, not passing out branded bourbon or jetting around the globe,” Ms. Murray said. Throughout the hearing, Mr. Patel frequently referred to the FBI’s recent success stories, including a 20 percent drop in the nationwide murder rate, a 184 percent increase in violent crime arrests, and a 53 percent increase in counterintelligence arrests. Responding to Ms. Murray’s comments about his lack of seriousness in the role, Mr. Patel held up a stat sheet that he had distributed earlier to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This is what real leadership looks like at the FBI,” Mr. Patel said. “Keep the target on me, as I’ve always said, but the mission has never been better,” he said.Mr. Patel also denied reports that the FBI was investigating journalists like Ms. Fitzpatrick and a New York Times reporter who recently interviewed his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins. “The FBI is targeting and investigating no journalists,” Mr. Patel said.Speaking on CNN earlier in the day, a former acting FBI director, Brian Driscoll, claimed that Mr. Patel told him that his job was to exact revenge on those who investigated President Trump because “the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.”In the early days of the president’s second term, Mr. Driscoll famously pushed back at efforts by then-acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove to identify FBI agents who worked on investigations involving Mr. Trump, including some alleged to be involved in the January 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol. Mr. Driscoll, who was forced out of the FBI in August after a political purge from the top spot just one month into Mr. Trump’s second term, is now part of a lawsuit against the bureau with two other fired senior officials. The former officials are seeking immediate reinstatement and back pay, among other forms of relief. Last week, Mr. Patel’s executive team fired an FBI supervisor who led the evidence recovery for the 2022 search at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents for misconduct related to his personal Skype messages. The firing was first reported by The New York Sun.

Kash Patel Challenges Democrat Senator To Take Joint Alcohol Test in Fiery Senate Hearing

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