A tense exchange occurred between Louisiana Senator John Kennedy and FBI Director Kash Patel during a testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The meeting’s focus was to consider Patel’s request to increase the FBI's budget by over $1 billion, a stark conflicting to the Trump administration's recently proposed cuts to the FBI of $545 million.
However, some committee members chose to focus on topics unrelated to the budget, as was evident when Kennedy took the floor.
Kennedy opened with a terse budget-affiliated comment, stating, “Mr. Director, worry not, we’ll make sure your agency is adequately funded.”
From there, Kennedy’s line of questioning spanned a broad range of topics, from the FBI's arrest of a Wisconsin judge for obstructing ICE agents, to the Peter Strzok and Lisa Page settlement with the DOJ, to the FBI's handling of Hunter Biden’s laptop.
While the first few questions came across more or less as cabbage balls, where Kash responded with ease, the tone of Kennedy’s questioning and Patel's responses took a turn when he shifted to the subject of the FBI's release of public information on Jeffrey Epstein’s controversial death.
“Did Jeffrey Epstein hang himself or did somebody kill him?” Kennedy asked.
“Senator, I believe he hung himself in a cell in a metropolitan detention center,” said Patel.
Kennedy replied, “Are you going to release all the information about that?”
“Senator, we are working through that right now with the Department of Justice,” Patel responded.
“When do you think you think you’ll have it done, Kash?” Kennedy asked.
“I think in the near future, sir,” said Patel.
“Like before I die?” asked Kennedy.
“Senator…we’ve been working on that,” replied Patel, before closing. “ And we’re doing it in a way that protects victims and doesn’t put out information into the ether that is irrelevant.”
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