{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/watch-sen-schiff-blasts-kash-patels-firing-of-fbi-officials-investigating-cases-against-trump-and-january-6-insurrectionists-calls-out-att/", "WATCH:\u00a0Sen. Schiff\u00a0Blasts\u00a0Kash Patel\u2019s\u00a0Firing of\u00a0FBI Officials\u00a0Investigating Cases Against Trump\u00a0and\u00a0January 6 Insurrectionists,\u00a0Calls Out\u00a0Attacks on Media", "2026-09-16", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Adam B. Schiff", "S001150", "www.schiff.senate.gov", "schiff", "https://www.schiff.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) blasted Kash Patel, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for his widespread mismanagement and politicization of the nation\u2019s foremost law enforcement agency.\n\nSchiff pressed Patel on the Trump administration\u2019s firing of FBI agents working on the investigations into President Donald Trump\u2019s role in the January 6 insurrection and his mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, as well as the FBI\u2019s investigation of members of the media under Patel\u2019s leadership.\n\nWatch the full clip here. Download the full clip here.\n\nKey Excerpts:\n\nOn Patel\u2019s refusal to admit termination of FBI employees was motivated by political retribution:\n\nSchiff: Mr. Patel, there were at least two major investigations of President Trump in the previous Justice Department. One that investigated his role in the violent attack on the Capitol and the incitement of that attack. Another investigation that investigated his purloining of hundreds of classified documents, their storage in his place at Mar-a-Lago, efforts to obstruct the investigation. Those two investigations were properly predicated. Those investigations resulted in grand juries bringing, returning indictments, charging the president numerous times with serious felony offenses. I have questions for you today about the agents who worked on those investigations. Let me first start with a simple numeric question: How many agents, FBI agents, were used in the investigation of the Mar-a-Lago documents case against the president? About how many?\n\nPatel: I have no idea. I wasn\u2018t here then.\n\nSchiff: Would it have been dozens?\n\nPatel: I don\u2019t know. You\u2019d have to ask the prior administration.\n\nSchiff: Well, a lot of those people were fired under your directorship, were they not?\n\nPatel: I don\u2018t think a lot of them, but a lot of them retired, and some of the ones that weaponized law enforcement were terminated, as they always will be.\n\nSchiff: So, can you pull the microphone close? We\u2019re having trouble hearing you. Might want to pull the whole thing closer to you. So, are you testifying today that you don\u2019t know if they were fired, or maybe some of them were fired, or many were fired? What\u2019s your testimony? How many of them were fired?\n\nPatel: My testimony is I don\u2019t know the personnel actions that were taken by the prior administration and the personnel actions \u2013\n\nSchiff: You know what, I\u2019m talking about your administration.\n\nPatel: I\u2019m getting there. The personnel actions that were taken by me are simply as follows: nobody at the FBI, as they\u2019ve committed to, is allowed to participate in the weaponization of law enforcement \u2013\n\nSchiff: That\u2019s not my question. How many of the agents who worked on Mar-a-Lago investigation of Donald Trump how many of them \u2013\n\nPatel: I don\u2019t have that number.\n\nSchiff: \u2013 were fired by the FBI?\n\nPatel: I don\u2019t know.\n\nSchiff: Are any of them still working for the FBI?\n\nPatel: I don\u2019t have that number. That\u2019s not my responsibility.\n\nSchiff: Well, that\u2019s not \u2013 I\u2019m not asking for a number now. Are any of the agents who worked on the Mar-a-Lago investigation of the president still employed at the FBI?\n\nPatel: I don\u2019t believe so. Most of them left.\n\nSchiff: Okay, so you don\u2019t believe any of the agents who worked on that investigation are still at the FBI?\n\nPatel: I can\u2019t stop them from retiring.\n\nSchiff: Is it your testimony that they\u2019re not at the FBI because they retired, not because they were fired?\n\nPatel: My understanding is the overwhelming majority of those agents and FBI personnel retired.\n\nSchiff: Well, let me ask you this: Todd Blanche at a CPAC conference says, \u201cand when it comes to the FBI, Director Patel has cleaned house there too. There isn\u2019t a single man or woman with a gun, federal agent still in that organization, that had anything to do with the prosecution of President Trump.\u201d So, the Attorney General says you cleaned house at the FBI.\n\nPatel: I did.\n\nSchiff: Was he right? Was he truthful when he said there\u2019s not a single agent at the FBI who worked on the Mar-a-Lago investigation, still employed by the FBI?\n\nPatel: The Attorney General is always truthful, so I believe his statement.\n\nSchiff: Okay, so they\u2019re all gone. Is your testimony today that most of those agents are no longer with the FBI because they decided suddenly to retire?\n\nPatel: Yeah.\n\nSchiff: They weren\u2019t fired in whole or in part because they worked on that investigation?\n\nPatel: The bulk of individuals that worked on those investigations left shortly thereafter \u2013\n\nSchiff: And they left voluntarily?\n\nPatel: In the prior administration.\n\nSchiff: I\u2019m talking about under your watch, Director Patel.\n\nPatel: They left before I got there. There\u2019s really nothing I can do.\n\nSchiff: So, it\u2019s your testimony that most of them voluntarily left the bureau? They weren\u2019t fired.\n\nPatel: Most of them, yeah.\n\nSchiff: And is the same true of the agents who investigated the president\u2019s involvement in January 6? How many \u2013 well, first of all, how many agents would you say that would be? Would it be dozens or hundreds of agents?\n\nPatel: I don\u2019t know. You\u2019d have to ask the prior administration. They were in charge of that.\n\nSchiff: You have no idea whether it is over 100 agents?\n\nPatel: No, my focus is not going back in time. My focus is crushing violent crime and defending the homeland and \u2013 results for the American people.\n\nSchiff: My question is: were those agents, as Todd Blanche indicated, also purged from the FBI under your watch because they had worked on the January 6th investigation?\n\nPatel: The FBI has one specific and simple standard. If you don\u2019t meet our high standards \u2013\n\nSchiff: That\u2019s not my question.\n\nPatel: I\u2019m getting there. If you don\u2019t meet those standards, you don\u2019t get to work at the FBI.\n\nSchiff: Take a little less time to get there, if you would. Were they purged because they worked on the January 6th investigation of the president?\n\nPatel: There was no purging, and there are individuals who worked on a whole host of investigations.\n\nSchiff: Were any of those agents fired?\n\nPatel: Many retired.\n\nSchiff: Excuse me. Excuse me. Let me finish the question.\n\nPatel: Go ahead.\n\nSchiff: Were any of the agents who worked on the Mar-a-Lago investigation or the January 6 investigation, were any of those agents fired in whole or in part because they worked on those investigations?\n\nPatel: So, the simple fact of working on those investigations, no. If they weaponize law enforcement, yes.\n\nSchiff: So, all of the agents who just happened to work on those investigations and were fired \u2013 is it your testimony that\u2019s because they were engaged in some other malfeasance, other than simply being assigned to those two cases?\n\nPatel: There\u2019s an entire inspection division at the FBI that looked at the totality of not just these agents and employees but everyone on a constant basis and they make recommendations.\n\nSchiff: But my question is very specific, Mr. Patel.\n\nPatel: I\u2019m answering your question.\n\nSchiff: Well, I haven\u2019t heard the answer, so I\u2019m going to try again.\n\nPatel: Go ahead.\n\nSchiff: Of all the probably hundreds of agents who worked on those two investigations of the president. Those hundreds of agents, maybe thousands, that your Attorney General says are gone from the FBI. Is it your testimony that none of them were fired solely for working on those investigations?\n\nPatel: All FBI personnel, those matters or others, are held to the same standard. You don\u2019t meet it, you don\u2019t get to work at the FBI.\n\nSchiff: So, it\u2019s your testimony that none of them were fired, in whole or in part because they worked on those investigations.\n\nPatel: I\u2019ve answered the question.\n\nSchiff: Is that answer a yes?\n\nPatel: I\u2019ve answered the question.\n\nSchiff: I don\u2019t think you have.\n\nPatel: Okay.\n\nOn future congressional investigations and preserving future records:\n\nSchiff: But I can understand why you wouldn\u2019t want to. The FBI is being sued for wrongful termination, and I will remind you, director, because you probably need reminding, that while this Congress is not going to investigate the wrongful termination of potentially hundreds of agents for working on properly predicated investigations, the next Congress will. And you have an obligation as FBI director to ensure that none of the personnel files, none of the emails, none of the voicemails, none of the text messages are destroyed. You will preserve those records, will you not?\n\nPatel: We preserve all records. We\u2019re not the ones that deleted records.\n\nSchiff: We will hold you to that.\n\nPatel: The ones that deleted records are the prior administration.\n\nOn attacks against the media:\n\nSchiff: Let me ask you another question. I want to read you a statement that you made about the press. This was in 2024, when you said that the mainstream media was \u201cthe most powerful enemy that the United States has ever seen.\u201d Do you stand by that?\n\nPatel: Your colleagues put that on full display here today.\n\nSchiff: Do you stand by that?\n\nPatel: I\u2019m answering the question. Your colleagues put that on full display by hacking around the same lies and personal basis attacks \u2013\n\nSchiff: No, no, no, no. This is your comment \u2013\n\nPatel: And that\u2019s what makes the majority of the mainstream media.[\u2026]\n\nSchiff: [\u2026]Do you stand by your statement?\n\nPatel: I always do.\n\nSchiff: So, is it your view then that the media is a greater enemy than Iran?\n\nPatel: That\u2019s not what I said. I said the media that participates in lying, like you do, and the baseless attacks on me and my personnel, my loved ones, is the most harmful institution to the United States of America because you don\u2019t want to tell the truth.\n\nSchiff: This mainstream media that you\u2019re accusing of lying, you\u2019re talking about the New York Times. Are they part of the enemy?\n\nPatel: I mean, I\u2019m talking about the ones that you said are \u2014\n\nSchiff: Excuse me. Are you talking about the New York Times?[\u2026]. Mr. Patel, let me ask you specifically about some of your attacks on the media. Mr. Booker tried to get an answer from you, a very simple answer about the reporter who wrote an article about potential misuse of an FBI SWAT team by himself.\n\nPatel: It didn\u2019t happen. Total lie.\n\nSchiff: And what he asked you. So, let me repeat it because you didn\u2019t answer his question.\n\nPatel: You\u2019re going to repeat a lie, so I\u2019m not going to answer it.\n\nSchiff: [\u2026] So my question, Mr. Chairman, is following this New York Times article that alleged that you had abused the FBI SWAT team.\n\nPatel: I just told you it\u2019s a lie. So, the basis of your question is a lie.\n\nSchiff: Excuse me. Mr. Chairman, I haven\u2019t been able to finish my question. Did you or did you not? Or did anyone else at the FBI query a federal database regarding the New York Times reporter who wrote that story.\n\nPatel: I did not, not to my knowledge.\n\nSchiff: Did anyone at the FBI?\n\nPatel: I have no idea. I don\u2019t monitor everything they do.\n\nSchiff: And let me also ask you a similar question about an article \u2018The FBI director is missing in action.\u2019 This was an article in the Atlantic.\n\nPatel: Another total lie, which is why I\u2019m suing Atlantic for $250 million.\n\nSchiff: Mr. Chairman. I\u2019m still trying to ask my questions.\n\nPatel: He\u2019s out of time. Are we done?\n\nSchiff: Mr. Chairman?\n\nGrassley: What I\u2019d like to have you do is you ask your questions.\n\nSchiff: I\u2019m trying.\n\nGrassley: And stop, and I want him to respond to you.\n\nSchiff: That is what I\u2019m doing, Mr. Chairman. Okay. So, my question is this, and I\u2019ll address this through you to the director. My question is about the reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick, who wrote this article, \u2018The FBI director is missing in action.\u2019 After this article came out, were any FBI resources used to look into this reporter in any way?\n\nPatel: No.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-16T09:43:13Z", "2026-09-16T09:44:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/watch-sen-schiff-blasts-kash-patels-firing-of-fbi-officials-investigating-cases-against-trump-and-january-6-insurrectionists-calls-out-att/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.054487656801939, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}