FBI’s Kash Patel defends hiring policy change on bestiality, prostitution

Policy change sparks heated Senate debate; critics question its timing amid challenges in attracting new FBI agents.

US FBI Director Kash Patel testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on FBI oversight on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, September 15, 2026 [Roberto Schmidt/AFP]

United States FBI Director Kash Patel has defended the bureau’s loosening of hiring requirements regarding prostitution and bestiality, saying the changes were meant to enable victims of those acts to apply for employment without fear of automatic disqualification.

The FBI quietly issued guidance this past spring lifting a categorical hiring ban on applicants who had previously engaged in prostitution, and said that it would instead consider the context of the behaviour in at least some cases. The bureau made a similar change regarding bestiality.

Pressed about the moves at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Patel on Tuesday denied that the changes reflected a lowering of employment standards and insisted they were designed to protect victims forced to engage in that conduct and to prevent automatic disqualification.

“We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked. We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you,” Patel said.

The answer did little to satisfy Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, who grilled Patel on the rationale for a change the FBI director said subordinates proposed to him.

Kennedy asked Patel why, given the FBI’s current difficulty attracting new agents because of negative public sentiment, Patel would make these changes now.

“Why would you even get into bestiality?” Kennedy said.

Patel replied it was a way of supporting victims, and that some people who were “forced into” bestiality should not be disqualified.

The Republican-led panel tried to keep the focus on Patel’s efforts to combat violent crime, counter drug trafficking and pursue the Trump administration’s agenda from his perch at the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.

But Democrats seized on the tumult inside the FBI over the last year, including sweeping firings of agents who participated in investigations into President Donald Trump, the bureau’s efforts to investigate Trump’s perceived political adversaries and Patel’s travel schedule, which has blended private leisure with professional responsibilities.

“Mr Patel is the least qualified and most partisan FBI director in our nation’s history,” Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the panel’s top Democrat, said in his opening statement at the hearing. He accused Patel of wielding the bureau’s law enforcement powers to seek retribution against Trump’s political opponents and pursue the president’s grievances, including his false claims that the 2020 election he lost was stolen.

Patel has made multiple appearances before Congress while serving as director, including to testify about the FBI’s budget, but this was his first time since last September before the Senate committee that has primary oversight jurisdiction over the bureau.

That hearing featured feisty and personal exchanges with Democrats, with Patel at one point shouting over Senator Adam Schiff of California, calling him an “utter disgrace” and a “coward”.

“You can make an internet troll the FBI director, but he will always be an internet troll,” Schiff shot back.

Tuesday’s hearing was expected to be no less contentious given Democrats’ fierce criticism of his leadership and conduct. Durbin called for Patel to be replaced as director in April following an article by The Atlantic magazine that raised allegations of excessive drinking.

Patel later filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit, calling the article false and a “malicious hit piece”. The Atlantic said it stood by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the “meritless lawsuit”.

政策变化引发参议院激烈辩论；批评人士质疑在联邦调查局面临吸引新特工挑战之际，该政策的时机是否恰当。

2026年9月15日，美国联邦调查局局长卡什·帕特尔在华盛顿特区国会山出席参议院司法委员会关于联邦调查局监督的听证会。[罗伯托·施密特/法新社]

美国联邦调查局局长卡什·帕特尔为该局放宽有关卖淫和兽奸的招聘要求辩护，称这些改变旨在使这些行为的受害者能够申请工作，而不必担心被自动取消资格。

今年春天，联邦调查局悄然发布指导意见，取消了此前对曾从事卖淫活动的求职者一概禁止录用的禁令，并表示至少在某些情况下会考虑其行为的具体情况。该局对兽交也做出了类似的调整。

周二，在参议院司法委员会监督听证会上，当被问及这些举措时，帕特尔否认这些变化反映了就业标准的降低，并坚称这些变化旨在保护被迫从事此类行为的受害者，并防止自动取消资格。

帕特尔说：“我们不想惩罚兽交受害者和人口贩卖受害者。我们不想让联邦调查局自动取消对你进行调查的资格。”

路易斯安那州共和党参议员约翰·肯尼迪对这一回答并不满意，他质问帕特尔，联邦调查局局长称，下属向他提出了这一改变的理由。

肯尼迪问帕特尔，鉴于联邦调查局目前由于公众舆论的负面情绪而难以吸引新特工，帕特尔为什么现在要做出这些改变。

“你为什么会去进行人兽交？”肯尼迪问道。

帕特尔回应说，这是支持受害者的​​一种方式，一些“被迫”进行人兽交的人不应该被取消资格。

由共和党领导的委员会试图将焦点集中在帕特尔在国家最高联邦执法机构的职位上，为打击暴力犯罪、打击毒品贩运和推行特朗普政府的议程所做的努力上。

但民主党人抓住过去一年联邦调查局内部的动荡大做文章，包括大规模解雇参与调查唐纳德·特朗普总统的特工、该局调查特朗普被认为是政治对手的努力，以及帕特尔的旅行安排——他将私人休闲与职业责任混为一谈。

“帕特尔先生是我们国家历史上最不称职、党派色彩最浓厚的联邦调查局局长，”伊利诺伊州参议员、该委员会首席民主党成员迪克·德宾在听证会的开场白中说道。他指责帕特尔滥用联邦调查局的执法权力，对特朗普的政治对手进行报复，并追究总统的不满，包括他关于2020年大选被窃取的虚假指控。

帕特尔在担任局长期间曾多次出席国会听证会，包括就联邦调查局的预算作证，但这是他自去年九月以来首次出席参议院委员会的听证会，该委员会对联邦调查局拥有主要的监督管辖权。

在那场听证会上，帕特尔与民主党人进行了激烈的、人身攻击式的交锋。帕特尔一度打断了加州参议员亚当·希夫的发言，称他“极其可耻”且“懦夫”。

“你可以让一个网络喷子当上联邦调查局局长，但他永远都是个网络喷子，”希夫反驳道。

鉴于民主党人对帕特尔的领导能力和行为的强烈批评，周二的听证会预计同样充满争议。今年4月，《大西洋月刊》发表文章，指控帕特尔酗酒过度，之后德宾呼吁撤换帕特尔的局长职务。

帕特尔随后提起2.5亿美元的诽谤诉讼，称该文章内容不实，是一篇“恶意攻击文章”。《大西洋月刊》则表示，他们坚持自己的报道，并将积极应诉这起“毫无根据的诉讼”。