Kash Patel praising recruits on the FBI to criticism in the middle of criticisms

After having faced intense criticisms on the part of the Democrats during an hearing of the Senate’s judicial committee this week, the director of the FBI assimilated, Kash Patel, remained provocative, saying that he was “proud” to lead the country’s first investigation agency.

Speaking with journalists after the hearing, a patel, which was confirmed to the role of the Senate at the end of February, praised its historical recruitment efforts, claiming that the agency “has the most candidates to become FBI agents and Intel analysts in the history of the FBI”.

One of the main criticisms he received from Democratic senators during the hearing was to initially relax on social media that the alleged killer of the conservative chief Charlie Kirk was in detention.

Patel conceded that he could have better defeated his article on social networks, but that he did not regret it because he delivered it in the name of transparency.

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The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, testified before the judicial committee of the Senate on September 16, 2025. (SOMODEVILLA / GETTY Images)

Speaking after the hearing, Patel added that “the American people saw and hears what the FBI does daily, crushing violent crimes and defending the fatherland”.

“So I am proud to be the director of the FBI who saw the most important and extensive application basin in history,” he said.

In his declaration of opening to the Committee, Patel listed a series of achievements that the agency has made since President Donald Trump took office, including tens of thousands of arrests, a realignment of the agency and an accent on the reprimand on illicit drugs.

Patel has recognized growing criticism of its FBI management and challenged the legislators of the panel to come after him, saying: “I am not going anywhere” and “if you want to criticize my 16 years of service, please bring it.”

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FBI director Kash Patel opened his testimony to the Senate’s judicial committee with an update on the investigation into the assassination of Charlie Kirk, while control focuses on his treatment of the case. (SOMODEVILLA / GETTY Images)

Patel was also examined on a wave of layoffs on the FBI, which, according to some, was politically motivated.

The classification deputy, senator Dick Durbin, D-ill., Criticized the deference of the patel towards Trump, claiming that the director “installed the loyalists of Maga” to key positions and initiated internal “loyalty tests”, including polygraph tests. Durbin said that some FBI officials who failed these tests needed derogations to continue working in the office.

Durbin also noted that Patel had little experience in the police, calling for his inexperience of “amazing” and accusing him of having accelerated unskilled recruits to fill the open jobs of the FBI.

Patel was also toasted by senator Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, for having forced agents on the ground in the FBI to make pumps as part of their physical fitness standards.

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Senator Cory Booker, DN.J., questions a patel during a hearing of the senate judicial committee on September 16, 2025. (Jim Watson / Getty images)

Hirono expressed his concerns that female agents can be negatively impacted by the demand for push-ups, saying: “There are concerns about the possibility of doing this kind of severe pull-ups is really required for FBI agents.”

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Patel replied: “If you want to hunt a villain, excuse me and put it handcuffed, you better be able to traction.”

In a particularly tense exchange, Senator Cory Booker, Dn.J., pierced with a patel, saying: “I think you are not going to be there long” and “I think that could be your last surveillance audience, because as much as you support yourself from the will of Donald Trump and not to the constitution of the United States of America, Donald Trump showed us in his first term, and in this term YOU.”

Patel brought back the “diatribe of false information from Booker does not bring this country together”, before adding, “it’s my time, not yours”.

Jasmine Baehr of Fox News Digital, Ashley Oliver and Alex Miller contributed to this report.