‘Lying for a 20-second donation hit’: Kash Patel clashes with Madeline Dean over ‘FBI weaponisation’

FBI Director Kash Patel and Democratic Rep. Madeline Dean clashed throughout a heated House subcommittee listening to, with Patel accusing Dean of misrepresenting details and Dean charging that the FBI underneath Patel had been weaponised to pursue political enemies.Dean, who served as an impeachment supervisor throughout 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 requested.Patel shot again, “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 tried to maneuver 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 throughout his Senate affirmation hearings, referring to his denial of involvement within the firing of FBI officers after the January 6 riot and his repeated appearances on the podcast of Stu Peters, whom she labelled “an anti-Semitic Holocaust denier”.She requested, “Should we worry more about your memory or your veracity?”Patel hit again 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 higher. “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 change got here as Patel additionally confronted criticism over a proposed $500 million minimize to the FBI’s 2026 price range, backed by the Trump White House. Though the administration framed the cuts as a transfer to “streamline” the bureau, Patel warned such reductions would hurt the company’s capability to deal with violent crime.“We need more than what has been proposed,” he advised lawmakers, including that the FBI was engaged on relocating 1,000 workers 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 can be minimize if the funding lower goes forward, 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.”