Patel defends FBI's criminal record, qualifications

"The men and women of this FBI are delivering," Patel said. "We're stopping terrorist attacks, securing our major sporting events, defending our critical infrastructure and rebuilding this institution around one standard: putting the mission first." 

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., grilled Patel on numerous topics including the release of documents associated with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, shooting of American citizens by immigration officals, and revised qualifications for FBI agents who are victims of bestiality. 

In June, the FBI updated its background check qualifications to no longer automatically exclude individuals who engaged in bestiality before turning 18 years old. Patel defended this revision before lawmakers on Tuesday, explaining that sex traffickers often force victims into compromising sexual acts including bestiality. 

"Some of these law enforcement officers, who qualified to be law enforcement officers and applied to the FBI," Patel said. "We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked" 

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., criticized the FBI's revisions and pointed to the FBI's struggle to hire new agents. He said revisions open the FBI to greater political criticism that attracts fewer applicants. 

Patel affirmed to Kennedy that any individual involved in bestiality that was not related to sex trafficking would be arrested. 

Durbin slammed Patel for the FBI's efforts to investigate the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. He said Patel has worked to shield President Donald Trump from danger while litigating "false" claims about the election. 

"Director Patel has installed MAGA loyalists as political appointees in key career positions and he even imposed loyalty tests requiring FBI officials to undergo polygraphs to say whether they ever criticized him," Durbin said.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., grilled Patel on investigations related to the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. The FBI director affirmed that he would allow the victims' families to access public records related to the investigation. 

"These investigations are currently ongoing and so I'm unable to comment on the nature of them," Patel said. "We are not the only agency involved since it involves multiple federal agencies so we have to work with our federal and state and local partners to collect the information and allow the Department of Justice to make whatever decision they deem appropriate."

U.S. Sen Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called on Patel to increase transparency with lawmakers on documents related to ongoing FBI investigations. He cited previous frustrations with Round River, an investigation regarding foreign influence of the 2020 presidential election. 

Grassley said he has been stonewalled in his efforts to access documents associated with the investigation. 

"We are conducting an internal investigation through the inspection division on the individuals who launched and codified this false and fake compartment," Patel said. 

Patel also declined to say whether he would send FBI agents to polling places on Election Day. 

"We're going to house our agents in security offices across the country," Patel said.