Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) pressed FBI Director Kash Patel multiple times on why the bureau lifted its hiring ban on people who previously engaged in bestiality.
The reason Patel provided was that in some cases, FBI applicants were forced into having sex with animals when they were younger.
“What we did was, we did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked,” Patel said in response to Durbin’s question during a congressional hearing on Tuesday. “We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you if you are a victim of these awful, heinous acts. They still have to go to the same rigorous standards and application process.”
The FBI overturned its bestiality disqualification standards in June, but the action was reported by CBS News more recently.
In the past, the FBI automatically disqualified people who admitted to engaging in acts of bestiality or animal abuse. If said acts occurred before applicants were 18 years old, they are no longer automatically disqualified from the hiring process.
“At this FBI, we are not going to criminalize and prevent victims from serving the United States of America and the premier law enforcement agency in the world,” Patel said. “They did that before. I eliminated the bureaucracy that prevented these great Americans from serving, or at least being considered from serving.”
The topic of bestiality came up more than once during the hearing, which took Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) off guard.
“I did not have the word ‘bestiality’ on my bingo card for today’s FBI oversight hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Lee posted on X. “And yet Senator Durbin has uttered the word five times so far.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) also questioned the FBI director about the lifted bestiality hiring ban, asking why he signed off on the change to the law enforcement agency’s hiring practices.
“The person who recommended it, why didn’t you just say, ‘What planet did you parachute in from?’ Kennedy asked.
“That was my initial response, senator,” Patel replied. “But they then explained to me and showed me cases in which people were forced into it and had applied to the FBI, and so I thought they should be considered. It’s not an automatic disqualification.”
Still, Kennedy said he was left “confused” by Patel’s defense of the policy change.
“I don’t understand why, frankly, the FBI had to address the issue of bestiality in this environment,” Kennedy told the Washington Examiner after he questioned Patel. “It just invites controversy, and I’m still a little confused. But that’s what I was asking about, and I don’t think the director did this. I think somebody in his agency decided to change the qualifications, and he agreed to it, but I’m not sure that it was prudent.”
Additionally, applicants can be considered for a job at the bureau if they’ve solicited prostitution, unless the person in question has solicited sex more than three times, has solicited prostitution within the past decade, or is applying to work in a public safety or education position. The same hiring practices also apply to applicants who stole from an employer more than three years ago.
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Durbin led a letter signed by Democratic lawmakers one day before the hearing, expressing concerns about some of the lowered hiring standards possibly taking effect as early as February 2025. The signatories asked for documentation on the policy change by Sept. 28.
This is one example of the strict scrutiny that Patel is facing from Democratic members of Congress. One of the investigations centers on the director’s alleged misuse of taxpayer funds for luxury expenses and his personal use of government aircraft.
Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.