FBI Director Kash Patel went before the Senate Appropriations Committee late last week to testify about the bureau's budget request for 2026. He had plenty of trending moments, including when it comes to discussing Jeffrey Epstein with Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), as Sarah covered. He also had quite the memorable exchange with Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the Committee's ranking member.
Although Murray was not pleased with Patel's answers, the FBI director made clear to her that he was not "weaponizing the FBI," and was giving the senator "the hard concrete examples of the men and women putting handcuffs on bad people doing harm to our children and innocent Americans," adding, "I do not see weaponization." Murray then brought up claims that Patel had "placed on leave FBI employees responsible for the investigation of January 6," as she added that "that sounds political to me."
The FBI director clarified for her that he has "not placed anyone on leave who has not violated their ethical obligation or their oath to the Constitution." Although he communicated no such thing in his response, Murray countered with another point. "So, if they were investigating January 6, you believe they were violating an ethic obligation," she claimed, which Patel quickly shot down. "Nope," he insisted. "I think the common theme here is putting words in my mouth and I'm not gonna tolerate it, nor will the men and women of the FBI."
Not only did Murray bring up January 6, but still another Democratic narrative, and one several years old. In this case, she brought up how Patel "did place on leave an analyst who was responsible for investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 election," asking, "is that politicization, is that retribution?" Patel remained steadfast in calling her out. "No, not if she broke the law or the ethical guidelines," he offered.
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Although he did not know the case Murray was referring to, Patel still maintained what "the standard was," and how they "will hold ourselves inwardly accountable, and we will not be strayed from our mission because people think we are politicizing the bureau. If you want to talk about someone who was attacked by a weaponized bureau, you're looking at him, and now he's the director of the FBI and he's cleaning it up."
Murray's remarks to conclude the clip seemed to show she took nothing out of Patel's points, who was speaking as someone who was the victim of weaponization. "Well, I would just say to everyone who's listening, that the FBI needs to be focused on its mission to keep the entire country safe. It should not be weaponized for partisan, political gain," the ranking member said. Patel still was able to get one more word in there to assure her and those watching the hearing that "we are."
🚨 Kash Patel just WRECKED Patty Murray
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 8, 2025
KASH: “I think the common theme is you putting words in my mouth, and I’m not going to tolerate it.”
“If you wanna talk about someone who was attacked by a weaponized bureau, you’re looking at him. And now he’s the Director of the FBI”… pic.twitter.com/YX031HzTIF
The viral exchange was also brought up on last Friday's episode of "The Tony Kinnett Cast." We discussed how Patel not only "clapped back at [Murray] for putting words in his mouth," but for all these concerns Democrats like Murray claim to have, we "also how we just came out of the Biden-Harris administration," which had "the most politicized, weaponized Department of Justice we have ever seen."
As a crucial reminder, it wasn't just Patel who was attacked by weaponized government, or President Donald Trump, but also everyday Americans, including pro-lifers praying at abortion facilities as well as concerned parents showing up to school board meetings.
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