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00:00Ms. Dean. Thank you, Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Meng, Chairman Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro.
00:06And thank you, Mr. Patel, for your testimony and for being here today.
00:11I've been looking at the President's 120-word FBI budget request, the so-called skinny, I'll call it,
00:17OSEMBIC request, that states that, quote, the undoing of the weaponization of the FBI
00:24is one of the administration's top priorities. The weaponization of the FBI is something that
00:31deeply concerns me. It should concern all of us. And yet, since taking office, President Trump has
00:38been on a revenge tour. He has targeted individuals, universities, law firms, with executive orders to
00:46cut them out or to make them come under his will. He has used ICE to disappear U.S. citizens without
00:53due process. And he's fully ignored a unanimous Supreme Court order. And then over the weekend,
00:59wasn't sure if he was obligated to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
01:06In your book, your recent book, Government Gangsters, you include an appendix with a list of names that
01:13people have referred to as an enemies list. Now, I know you will claim it's just an appendix,
01:19not an enemies list. So let's focus on how the president sees it, on what the president calls it.
01:26And you proudly display his quote on the front cover of your book. The president calls this a
01:32brilliant roadmap, a blueprint. And I have not even raised your storied children's book,
01:38The Plot Against the King. It concerns me how many people from this blueprint have been targeted
01:45with executive orders and FBI investigations. The FBI cannot be weaponized. And under your
01:52leadership, it has been nothing but a weapon alongside the president to go after the president's
01:57perceived opponents to stifle dissent and free speech. A few weeks ago, as we saw through a social
02:04media post that you quickly deleted, the FBI arrested a judge in Wisconsin for correctly asking ICE
02:10officials if they had a judicial warrant instead of an administrative warrant, which they did not
02:16have. Despite this judge following the law, on the morning of April the 25th, the FBI arrested the judge
02:22in an escalation of the weaponization of the FBI under your leadership. Let me be clear. A functioning
02:31democracy does not lock up judges. I am gravely concerned about the utter lack of independence of the FBI.
02:39And it's weaponization under your leadership. I am concerned that the president is using this book,
02:46your book, as a blueprint, as he has said. It's a blueprint for revenge. And I am concerned
02:53that your eagerness, a childlike giddiness to carry out the president's revenge tour,
02:59you've shown yourself to be unserious in your statements before you were sworn in and some after.
03:06You've shown yourself unfit to lead this important agency. I was an impeachment manager for President
03:13Trump's second impeachment. It was a sad, solemn duty. And so I wanted to ask you about that.
03:20Mr. Patel, as you and the president continue to weaponize and investigate his perceived enemies,
03:28as you follow this blueprint, when can I, a former impeachment manager, expect the FBI at my door?
03:36Ma'am, you want to know who was targeted by a weaponized FBI? Me. You want to know how and why?
03:42You want to know what I'm doing to fix it? Let me move on.
03:45Well, you should read the book because there's no enemies list on that book. There are people that
03:49violated their constitutional obligations and their duties to the American people, and they were
03:53rightly called out. And you should give that book to every one of your constituents so they can read
03:58about it. I won't be doing that. That's their loss. During your Senate confirmation hearings,
04:04you repeatedly denied having any involvement as a private citizen in the firing of FBI officials who
04:09engaged in the prosecution against January 6 insurrectionists, the violent rioters who beat
04:15and killed Capitol police officers, and whom you refer to as political prisoners. Since then,
04:22multiple whistleblowers have come forward, and we know that you likely committed perjury.
04:27At the same hearing, you claimed you were not familiar with Stu Peters, an anti-Semitic Holocaust
04:33denier, despite the fact that you appeared on Mr. Peters' podcast eight separate times. Eight times.
04:41And you claimed not to recall. Mr. Patel, my second question is, should we worry more about your
04:46memory or your veracity? We should worry more about your lack of candor. You're excusing me of committing
04:51perjury. Tell the American people how I broke the law and committed a felony. Have the audacity to
04:57actually put the facts forward instead of lying for political banter so you can have a 20-second
05:02donation hit. The answer is both. The answer is you're failing, not me. Go ahead.
05:11Mr. Patel, I believe that the members of the FBI, and I know many of them, many retired,
05:2538,000 people, as you say, it's a little less than that now, deserve the very best, deserve
05:31extraordinary independence, deserve freedom from the fears of being investigated, the freedom of
05:38coming forward to make sure they're doing their job. And I'll end with this, that I think it's
05:43interesting that in your proposal today, you find yourself at a gulf of difference between you and
05:50the president. I wonder how you will resolve that. Will you go to the president and say we need 11.2
05:56billion, not what you cut out of here? You're asking for more than a billion dollars than the
06:03president's request. Are you going to go to the president and straighten out that gulf?
06:08I'll do what I've always done and represent the American people, defend this country,
06:12and make sure the constitution is always upheld and the FBI is never weaponized. Maybe you should
06:16do the same. So you agree with the president when he says he doesn't know if he should uphold his
06:23constitutional duty? If you want to just keep putting words in my mouth, the TV cameras are outside.
06:27I thank you. I yield back. Again, this is an unserious moment, sadly, for the FBI. I yield back.
06:35More so for you. Mr. Stroman.