WATCH: Sen. Blumenthal presses Patel on FBI firings, says director ‘lied’ in confirmation hearing

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., questioned FBI Director Kash Patel in a hearing Tuesday focused on his leadership over the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

The senator recalled Patel’s promise to lawmakers that the FBI would not be politicized during his confirmation hearing, in which Patel said, “Every FBI employee would be held to the absolute same standard and no one would be terminated for case assignments.”

"I'm not going to mince words: You lied to us,” Blumenthal told Patel.

Blumenthal and other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said there was pressing concern over political retribution at the FBI, especially following the August purge of five veteran FBI officials as Patel seeks to reshape the bureau.

Three of those former, high-ranking officials are now suing the Trump administration, claiming there was a “campaign of retribution” from Patel who had bowed to political pressure from Trump to fire them.

When Blumenthal asked if anyone from the White House had contacted Patel about personnel decisions, the FBI director said, “I completely disagree with your entire premise.”

Blumenthal pressed further. Patel said people are terminated at the FBI if they fail to meet the job’s duties, stressing it is a decision he makes, not the White House. Patel added he objected to the senator’s accusation that he’s lying.

Alongside the lawsuit from fired FBI veterans, Patel has been under fire in recent days for social media posts he made about the Charlie Kirk shooting investigation and for dining out at an upscale Manhattan restaurant hours after the conservative activist was killed.

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