FBI Director Kash Patel Reprimanded For Failing To Produce Budget Required By Law

FBI director Kash Patel faced unwelcome scrutiny for failing to produce a timely budget. Last week, in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Patel said he did not have a budget plan ready and had no timeline for producing one. 

“I’m working with my interagency partners to do this and get you the budget that you are required to have,” Patel explained.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington), the Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees and approves budget requests, told Patel that the request was due “last week.” Following his surprising response, she added, “And your answer is ‘you just understand you’re not going to follow the law’?”

When asked about the timeline for completing the budget request, Patel could only answer, “It’s being worked on.”

While this delay could end in the FBI having no budget for the next fiscal year, Patel has made conflicting comments that could demonstrate what is causing these delays.

When originally nominated by President Donald Trump, Patel said on The Shawn Ryan Show, a podcast, “I’d shut down the F.B.I. Hoover Building on Day 1 and reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state.'”

At last week’s hearing, Patel requested that $1 billion be added to the FBI’s budget.

This put him at odds with Trump’s plan to cut $1 billion from the bureau’s budget, and Patel changed his position within 24 hours to follow Trump’s lead.

In his first months in office, Patel has changed the decades-long norm for daily morning briefings for the head of the FBI to just twice a week. He has also ended weekly video teleconference calls with nationwide FBI leaders.

Since Feb. 20, when he took office, he has made several flights to Tennessee to visit his girlfriend, two flights to Las Vegas, where he owns a home, and one to New York to attend a professional hockey game. He has also attended several other professional sporting events, including an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight with Trump, Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Patel was recently mocked on social media for wearing fatigues in a social media video.

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Article by Riley Goldman