The Latest: Kash Patel confronts Senate questions over probe into Charlie Kirk’s killing

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FBI Director Kash Patel touted his leadership of the nation’s top federal law enforcement agency as he faced questions from senators about the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s killing, the case against sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the firings of senior FBI officials who have accused Patel of illegal political retribution.

His appearance Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee represents the first oversight hearing of Patel’s young but tumultuous tenure and provides a high-stakes platform for him to confront skeptical Democrats at a time of internal upheaval and mounting concerns about political violence inside the United States, which President Donald Trump has squarely blamed on the left. Patel listed a series of what he said were accomplishments of his first months on the job, including his efforts to fight violent crime and protect children.

The Latest:

Immigrants are being detained in various locations, sparking fear and leading some people to stay home. Advocates report increased activity from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with unmarked vehicles targeting work vans and staking out neighborhoods with large immigrant populations.

One Metro Boston city canceled its Hispanic Heritage Month festival due to safety concerns. ICE’s “Patriot 2.0” operation follows a previous crackdown in Boston.

The U.S. Department of Justice has also filed a lawsuit against Boston over its so-called sanctuary policies. Advocates argue the city’s policy of limiting cooperation with ICE keeps the city safe and ensures Boston remains a place for all residents.

Opponents argue challenging the federal government risks much-needed federal funding and allows criminals to walk the streets.

▶ Read more about ICE detentions intensifying in so-called sanctuary cities

Patel had posted in the hours after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk that “the subject” was in custody even though the actual suspect was still at large.

“I don’t see it as a mistake. I see it as something -- working with the public to identify that there was a subject in custody,” Patel told senators.

He said he wanted to inform the public that a subject had been taken into custody, even though that person did not end up being the suspect in the shooting.

He told senators: “Could I have been more careful in my verbiage and said we had a subject instead of the subject? Sure.”

Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, pushed back, saying it caused confusion by making it sound like authorities had caught the person suspected of killing Kirk.

Patel shot back by saying, “That’s not what I said.”

A group of Democratic senators say they are deeply concerned that a Pentagon plan to allow military lawyers to work as temporary immigration judges will violate a ban on using service members for law enforcement and affect the military justice system.

The letter, sent to the military services and provided to The Associated Press, comes two weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges. It is among the steps the Trump administration has taken to use the military in broader ways than previously seen, particularly in its immigration crackdown, including sending the National Guard into American cities and deploying active duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“These military officers would serve under the command and control of the Attorney General and would execute administrative determinations at the direction of the Attorney General,” according to the letter signed by 12 Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee. It added that “these actions are inherently law enforcement actions that may not be performed by members of the armed forces.”

Republican Gov. Mike Braun said that the redistricting conversation is “moving” and it’s likely inevitable. But he doesn’t want to call a special session unless there will be a successful outcome.

“I’ve been very clear, I want it to be organic,” he said in a video reported by WRTV in Indianapolis.

Indiana GOP lawmakers have been hesitant about redistricting while Texas and Missouri barrel ahead, emblematic of Indiana’s independent streak. Braun said a special session could happen any time after November.

The GOP legislative caucuses met last week to discuss redistricting a few weeks after visiting the White House.

Gov. Josh Shapiro says the nation must “turn the tide” against political violence and the belief that government can’t solve problems while also rejecting vengeance.

Shapiro, a Democrat, delivered the remarks at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh. Shapiro said leaders must condemn all forms of political violence and shouldn’t use violence as a pretext for more violence or to prosecute constitutionally protected speech.

Shapiro also criticized Trump, saying some people “in the dark corners of the internet, all the way to the Oval Office, want to cherry-pick which instances of political violence they want to condemn.”

In April, Shapiro and his family fled the governor’s official residence in the middle of the night after an alleged arsonist set it on fire in an attempt to kill Shapiro.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he has had no direct conversations with the White House or Border Patrol and reaffirmed that Chicago police would not collaborate with ICE.

“I get that people are feeling a level of anxiety, but they should be assured that we’re going to work with all of our stakeholders to make sure the people of Chicago are safe and supported,” he said at a news conference following his signing of an executive order aiming to protect the right to protest.

The order states that, if federal law enforcement disrupts peaceful protests, Chicago police will “collaborate with protest organizers to develop a mutually acceptable alternative plan.”

Johnson said the order was an attempt to be “proactive” amid federal intervention and after protesters clashed with federal immigration agents Friday outside an ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois.

They unveiled a stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government through Nov. 21.

The bill generally funds agencies at current levels, though there is an extra $88 million to boost security for lawmakers and members of the Supreme Court and the executive branch. The House is expected to vote on the measure by Friday.

The budget year draws to a close at the end of the month and Congress has yet to approve funding levels for the coming fiscal year. So, lawmakers will need to pass a stopgap measure to keep agencies funded while they work out their differences for the full year.

Democratic leaders have insisted that Republicans negotiate with them on the spending bill to protect health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. But Republicans leaders have rebuffed those demands and say those discussions are for another time and would not be part of the continuing resolution.

Any spending bill that passes will need some support from Democrats in the Senate as the measure will need at least 60 votes to advance to a final vote.

Patel and the New Jersey Democrat got into a shouting match as Booker charged that Patel is responsible for a “generational destruction of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.”

Patel fired back at Booker, telling him that he was an “embarrassment.”

For several moments, the Republican chairman of the committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, pounded his gavel but struggled to gain control of the two men.

Still, Booker predicted that Patel would not last long in his post. He told Patel that Trump “will cut you loose. This may be the last time I have a hearing with you.”

Patel took the opportunity to give a fiery retort to Democratic senators who say the reason he got the job was his loyalty to President Donald Trump.

Patel’s leadership of the FBI has been marked by turmoil and Democratic accusations that he’s using the law enforcement agency to carry out Trump’s goals.

But Patel told the Senate panel that it was “an entire falsehood” to suggest that he only got the job because he was a Trump loyalist.

Patel pointed to his experience as an attorney, congressional staffer and administration official, saying, “There was no loyalty then. There’s no loyalty now to anything but the Constitution.”

Former Republican and onetime Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan is running as a Democrat for governor, a remarkable step for a staunch critic of Trump who left the conservative fold in a region where party switchers have gone in the other direction for generations.

“I’ve never wavered in taking on Trump. So Georgia Republicans threw me out of their party,” Duncan said in his announcement video released Tuesday. “I was leaving anyway. Now I’m running for governor as a proud Democrat.”

A 50-year-old resident of a Republican stronghold north of Atlanta, Duncan joins an already crowded field of lifelong Democrats. Top candidates include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves and former labor commissioner Michael Thurmond.

Trump seemed miffed when an Australian Broadcasting Corp. reporter asked about his wealth since returning to office. Trump told the reporter, ’You’re hurting Australia very much right now, and they want to get along with me.”

He told the reporter that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would be visiting soon and “I’m going to tell him about you. You set a very bad tone.”

The president also criticized ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl, whom he’s known for years. Karl asked Trump about the attorney general’s comments that she will be going after hate speech after the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Karl told Trump that even some of his allies say hate speech is free speech.

Trump responded by telling Karl the administration would “probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly, it’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart.”

The House Select Committee on China says any deal between Beijing and Washington must comply with a law requiring TikTok to be divested from its Chinese ownership or face a ban in the U.S.

A framework deal was reached over the future of the popular social media platform at a trade meeting Monday in Madrid. Details remain unknown. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said he wants information on the ownership structure.

“Underpinning all of our concerns is the Chinese Communist Party’s access to American data,” he said. The social media platform needs user data to determine what to show users, and Krishnamoorthi said he would be open to discussions if the app is protected from Beijing’s infiltration.

In a tense exchange, Sen. Richard Blumenthal accused the FBI director of lying when he told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing that agents would not be subject to political retribution.

Patel objected to the accusation, telling the Democrat from Connecticut: “You accusing me of lying is something I don’t take lightly, but I’m not going to get into a tit for tat with you.”

The FBI director insisted that decisions to fire certain FBI agents were made by him, not the White House.

“Any termination at the FBI was a decision that I made based on the evidence that I have as director of the FBI,” Patel said. “It’s my job and I’m not going to shy away from it.”

“There is no credible information — none. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals,” Patel said, while also acknowledging that previous investigations of Epstein were limited.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said that kind of answer was unlikely to satisfy demands to release more information.

“This issue is not going to go away,” Kennedy said. “And I think the central question for the American people is this: They know that Epstein trafficked young women for sex to himself. They want to know who if anyone else he trafficked these young women to.”

Patel said that the current case files only included “limited search warrants” between 2006 and 2007 because federal prosecutors in Florida had previously cut a secret deal with Epstein that allowed him to avoid prosecution for his previous actions

Patel says the FBI has 35 open investigations into threats against judges, who have faced a sharp increase in violent messages in recent years.

Federal judges were targeted in 17 of those cases, while the others involved threats against state court judges, Patel said.

The FBI director said he’s concerned about the problem, and the agency is referring cases for prosecution when it’s supported by the evidence.

Judges have increasingly spoken out against threats of violence, pointing to worrying rhetoric from both sides of the political aisle in recent years and saying the threats have reached a new peak during the second Trump administration.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in an X post that she was “on the ground” Tuesday in Chicago “to make clear we are not backing down.”

“Our work is only beginning,” she said.

Gregory Bovino, who spearheaded the immigration crackdown that sparked widespread protests in Los Angeles, also announced his arrival: “Well, Chicago, we’ve arrived!” he said. “Operation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles.”

Advocates for immigrants say they’ve noticed an uptick in detentions by ICE agents in Chicago as the nation’s third-largest city braces for Trump’s promised immigration crackdown and National Guard deployment. The threats have deepened dread among already fearful immigrant communities, which cancelled and delayed Mexican Independence Day celebrations. An ICE officer fatally shot a suspect trying to evade arrest last week.

Johnson also defended employers who take action against employees whose comments go too far.

“That’s not the government censoring speech, that’s personal behavior and decorum,” the Republican from Louisiana said.

Johnson noted that Trump has been called “the most despicable names” and he urged all leaders to tone it down.

“Leaders cannot call their political opponents Nazis and fascists and enemies of the state because they disagree with their policy priorities,” he said.

Speaker Mike Johnson said a bill to avoid a partial government shutdown at month’s end would not include health care provisions sought by Democrats.

“It will be a clean, short-term continuing resolution. End of story,” Johnson told reporters. He said the measure will be unveiled Tuesday.

Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has said House Democrats won’t support a partisan bill that “continues to gut the healthcare of the American people.”

But Johnson said Republicans are not going to revisit their big tax cut bill that trimmed Medicaid spending over the coming decade, and said the looming expiration of tax credits for some health insurance coverage is a “December policy issue.”

“The same Democrats who decried government shutdowns under President Biden appear to have no heartache whatsoever at walking our nation off that cliff right now,” Johnson said.

The lawsuit against the paper and four of its journalists, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Florida, says several articles and one book published in the leadup to the 2024 election are “part of a decades-long pattern by the New York Times of intentional and malicious defamation against President Trump.”

Times spokesman Charles Stadtlander said Tuesday the lawsuit “lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting. The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.” Penguin Random House, which published the book, called the lawsuit “meritless.”

Trump has gone after other media outlets, including filing a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch in July after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Patel was asked by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., whether the Kirk shooting is being treated as part of a broader trend of violence against religious groups, and Patel responded, “We are investigating Charlie’s assassination fully and completely and running out every lead related to any allegation of broader violence.”

Patel also said that the FBI is investigating “anyone and everyone” who was involved in an online gaming chatroom on Discord with the alleged shooter. That chatroom involved “a lot more” than 20 people, Patel said.

The FBI director told Sen. Amy Klobuchar that he is “willing to engage and explore new ways” to address gun violence in the United States.

“Whatever creativity we can use to eliminate even just one shooting, one horrific death, I am in favor of engaging with Congress fully to do,” Patel told the Democrat from Minnesota.

Patel was later pressed by Klobuchar on whether he supports a ban on so-called assault weapons.

The FBI director said there are “instances on this legislation that could prevent future attacks” but said he would not “weigh into the creation of legislation.”

The FBI director says his agency, as well as the U.S. military and intelligence community, will be conducting a yearslong mission that seeks to use counterterrorism tactics against drug-trafficking organizations.

“We must treat them like foreign terrorist organizations post-9/11. We must treat them like the al-Qaidas of the world,” Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Patel argued that law enforcement resources alone aren’t enough to dismantle criminal groups that traffic drugs into the U.S. and that the Trump administration is taking an “interagency” approach.

“Whether that’s in a kill operation, a capture operation, a surrender operation, or a host nation takedown, like we did with the counterterrorism mission sets in Afghanistan and Iraq and Pakistan and elsewhere, we are applying that to the drug traffickers in Mexico and Venezuela and Colombia,” Patel said.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday he will seek a third term in the 2026 elections, hoping to beat the odds to become the longest-serving governor in a state where voters have usually said two terms were plenty.

“I’ve always tried to do what’s right for Minnesota, and I’ll never stop fighting to protect us from the chaos, corruption, and cruelty coming out of Washington,” Walz said in a campaign video.

Walz has been frequently mentioned as a potential 2028 presidential candidate. He sharply criticized Trump while touring early caucus and primary states after he and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris were defeated. But he told Axios in July he would not run for president if he sought reelection.

▶ Read more about Walz’s decision to run for governor again

Questioned by Durbin on the recent firings of FBI agents, Patel said he would not get into personnel decisions and accused the Democrat of unfairly attacking FBI leadership.

Earlier in the hearing, Patel called it “absolutely disgraceful” to cite what the FBI director described as a “one-sided story” about the firings.

“Your attack on the current leadership of the men and women of the FBI is equally disgraceful,” the FBI director told Durbin.

Patel is facing a lawsuit from three high-ranking FBI officials who have accused him of illegally firing them in a “campaign of retribution.”

“We knocked off, actually, three boats not two,” Trump told reporters when asked about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s angry response to U.S. military operations that the White House says is targeting Venezuelan drug smugglers.

Trump had confirmed earlier that the U.S. military on Monday had targeted a second boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel. He also hinted that the military targeting of cartels could be further expanded.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about when and where the third strike occurred.

Trump also sent a new warning to the Maduro government on Tuesday:

“Stop sending Tren de Aragua to the United States,” Trump said. “Stop sending drugs into the United States.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a close ally of Trump, asked the FBI director what legal justification the administration is using for military strikes on Venezuelan boats that the president has said are carrying drugs.

Patel declined to answer, saying he would leave that to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

While Republicans in Congress haven’t objected to Trump using the U.S. military to strike the boats, some are beginning to ask questions on how the operations are conducted and their legal justification.

Still, Graham expressed support for an aggressive approach to nations where drugs are manufactured.

“We will hunt down every single one of those narco-traffickers,” Patel told Graham.

Durbin asked Patel about statements from Dan Bongino before he became deputy director of the FBI that the bombs found at the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee on Jan. 6, 2021, were an “inside job.”

The FBI director declined to comment on Bongino’s comments, but said he found Durbin’s criticism of Bongino “disgusting.”

“So you have no evidence?” asked Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I got a lot of evidence, and I’ll give it to you when I can,” Patel said.

The person who placed the bombs just before the attack on the U.S. Capitol that day has never been identified.

During one combative exchange, Patel was pressed by the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee over an unsigned memo released by the Justice Department in July that said there was no evidence of a Jeffrey Epstein “client list.”

Patel responded with a dig at former President Joe Biden, telling Durbin: “Would you have preferred I used autopen?”

Republicans have accused the Democratic president of signing pardons in this final days in the White House with an autopen instead of by his own hand.

The Senate hearing is quickly becoming tense, with the FBI director repeatedly avoiding answering questions from Sen. Durbin on how the bureau has administered polygraph tests to staff.

Patel told Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, that he wouldn’t discuss the specifics of how polygraph tests are administered or what questions come up.

Durbin responded, “You have to have a decent memory when you come before a committee.”

The Associated Press has previously reported that agents and senior executives alike have been subjected to polygraph exams aimed at ferreting out disclosures of information related to Patel.

Patel brought up the Epstein files in his opening statement, seeking to address a topic that’s brought criticism from some quarters of Trump’s conservative base who want to see more information released about the probe.

The FBI director faulted the original case against Jeffrey Epstein that ended in a plea deal years ago. He says it involved a “very limited search warrant” and asserted that the Trump administration has done more to release all “credible information” they could under the law.

Patel also said Epstein had not been a source for the FBI.

He didn’t acknowledge criticism that the FBI and Justice Department have faced in recent months over the abrupt announcement in July that they would not be releasing additional documents from their trove of evidence.

The state’s high court on Tuesday declined to hear Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ appeal of her removal from the case.

Trump reacted to the news by saying it was a “great decision” and a “rigged case to start off with.”

He also called for Willis to be jailed for attempting to prosecute him and several other individuals.

▶ Read more on the ruling in the Georgia election fraud case against Trump and others

Patel has concluded his opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee with a bit of a challenge for his critics: “I’m not going anywhere.”

The FBI director pointed to his experience as a congressional staffer and Trump administration official, saying, “If you want to criticize my 16 years of service, please bring it on.”

Senate Republicans have continued to express confidence in Patel despite criticism from some conservative commentators of how he’s led the FBI’s response to the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Democrats, meanwhile, will intensely question Patel over what they say is a highly politicized approach to the FBI.

The Illinois Democrat says both political parties “have a responsibility to bring down the temperature” and encourage unity following Kirk’s killing.

In his opening remarks earlier in the hearing, Durbin said Democrats are not responsible for Kirk’s death, just as Republicans are not responsible for the killing of a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota earlier this year.

The country is going through a period of division and political violence, he said, but “Republicans are not Nazis, Democrats are not evil.”

Patel’s opening remarks highlighted his efforts to transform the bureau to focus on combating violent crime.

Patel said the FBI has arrested more than 23,000 violent criminals this year — an increase compared with last year. He also touted the FBI’s efforts to target drug trafficking and violent drug cartels.

Critics have raised concerns that the focus on immigration enforcement and violent crime could divert attention from the FBI’s ability to focus on matters like counterterrorism.

He has faced some criticism from conservative corners about how he has led the FBI in the wake of the shooting, but Patel told the Senate panel that his agency — “at my direction” — successfully brought the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s killing into custody.

He also has touted the number of arrests made by the FBI, saying it represents an increase from the Biden administration.

“We are leading the mission to crush violent crime and defend the homeland,” Patel said.

The president said, “they’ve been friends of mine for a long time,” called the king an “elegant gentleman” and said, “I think he represents the country so well.”

The president, speaking as he was leaving the White House, said that U.K. officials want to continue trade negotiations during his coming visit.

“They’d like to see if they can get a little bit better deal, so we’ll talk to them” he said.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin, opened his remarks by criticizing Patel for the removal of career FBI officials and the diversion of agents to help with immigration enforcement.

Durbin called Patel “arguably the most partisan FBI director ever,” saying he has “already inflicted untold damage on the FBI.” Durbin accused Patel of putting the country’s “national security and public safety at risk.”

Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley opened the hearing expressing sympathy for the fatal shooting last week of Charlie Kirk, which is under FBI investigation.

Then he ran through a list of GOP criticisms of FBI investigations related to politics, ranging from the prosecution of White House adviser Peter Navarro for his response to a congressional subpoena, to the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. He also pledged to release new whistleblower records.

Grassley decried Kirk’s “political assassination,” calling Kirk a “man of God, faith, family and country.”

Prosecutors are preparing to file a capital murder charge Tuesday against the Utah man who authorities say held a “leftist ideology” and may have been “radicalized” online before he was arrested in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Charges against 22-year-old Tyler Robinson are expected to come ahead of Tuesday’s first court hearing since he was accused last week of shooting Kirk, a conservative activist credited with energizing the Republican youth movement and helping Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024.

U.S. indices were mostly higher early Tuesday after Wall Street set new records and investor expectation grew that the Federal Reserve will announce its first interest rate cut of 2025 on Wednesday.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% before the bell Tuesday while Big Tech stocks pulled Nasdaq futures 0.3% higher. Futures for the Dow Jones industrials were unchanged.

Oracle shares jumped 5% on speculation it would play a major part in the U.S.-China deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. after the Trump administration announced the framework of a trade deal on Monday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after the latest round of trade talks between the world’s two largest economies that Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping would speak Friday to possibly finalize the deal.

Citing an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship Fulton County District Attorney had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, the Georgia Court of Appeals had ruled that she and her office not continue to prosecute the case. election interference case against Donald Trump and others.

Steve Sadow, Trump’s attorney in the Georgia case, said in a statement that Willis “deserved nothing less than disqualification.” A spokesperson for Willis did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.

The decision means it will be up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to find another prosecutor, who could continue on the track that Willis has taken, decide to pursue only some charges or dismiss the case altogether.