Previous post
Kash Patel and Chris Van Hollen had quite the conversation during today’s Senate Appropriations hearing. All over Patel’s supposed drinking problem.
The hearing was supposed to be about the FBI’s 2027 budget request. Instead, per usual, the Democrats went off the rails altogether.
Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday pressed FBI Director Kash Patel over a media report that episodes of excessive drinking interfered with his ability to lead the premier U.S. law enforcement agency, drawing an angry response from Patel.
At a hearing before a Senate budget panel, Patel defended his leadership of the FBI against Democratic accusations that his conduct, including the reported drinking, had undermined national security and demonstrated poor judgment.
It was Patel’s first appearance before Congress since his beer-drinking celebration at the Milan Winter Olympics and the publication of an article in the Atlantic magazine drew renewed scrutiny to his tenure. Both matters were raised in the hearing.
Patel testified in support of the Trump administration’s proposed $12.5 billion 2027 budget for the FBI and defended his performance, saying violent crime had fallen over the past year while FBI arrests had increased.
Keep in mind, the drinking story peddled by the Atlantic, who has a huge ax to grind with Patel and President Trump, was a hit job very thinly disguised as journalism. Patel is suing and the discovery involving all those anonymous sources is going to be fun to watch.
Furthermore, while he was overly excited and honestly shouldn’t have been chugging beer with the mens Olympic hockey team, I can totally understand the excitement of the time. As do many others who deal in reality, instead of living inside a bubble of blinding animosity towards President Trump.
The Democrats in that hearing weren’t concerned about the 2027 budget request. They were more concerned about the salacious stories regarding Patel’s drinking and handing out bottles of bourbon.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) asked about the number of FBI personnel that had been dispatched to work on immigration matters, a figure she said the CATO Institute pegged at over 2,000. And she also asked about reports that the FBI has been using its personal to investigate reporters who have written about Patel – something he flatly denied.
That includes a report from MSNOW that the FBI was probing the Atlantic reporter who initially wrote about Patel, Sarah Fitzpatrick. The Atlantic subsequently published another report detailing that Patel had given out personalized bourbon bottles.
“We need serious leadership at the FBI that the American people can trust. And I am deeply concerned about the reports that your leadership has not been serious. We need somebody at this agency who’s focused on solving criminal cases, not passing out branded bourbon, or jetting around the globe. Your job is to be reachable,” she said.
Where it really got fun was when it was Chris Van Hollen’s turn to grandstand.
🚨 LMFAO! Kash Patel just absolutely EVISCERATED Dem. Sen. Chris Van Hollen to his FACE for having drinks with Kilmar Abrego Garcia
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 12, 2026
“The only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang-banging RAPlST was YOU!”
🤣🔥 pic.twitter.com/VnzvluKYbk
Honestly, I cannot stop laughing at this. Hollen looked like he’d sucked on a lemon after Patel dunked him. There are no real sources for the stories about Kash Patel’s drinking. But Chris Van Hollen was on camera and published his little margarita fest with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and asked for applause while doing so.
After getting schooled on margaritas, Hollen returned to the ‘it was the Salvadoran government’s fault’ defense.
Van Hollen said at a press conference after he returned from the country in April of last year that a Salvadoran government official “deposited two other glasses on the table.”
Van Hollen noted Abrego Garcia’s glass appeared to have less in it to give the impression that he’d been drinking out of it.
“Let me just be very clear: Neither of us touched the drinks that were in front of us,” he said at the time.
Van Hollen and the other Democrats were yelling at Patel for anonymously sourced stories and downing a celebratory beer while on camera. But it’s ok for Van Hollen to have a sit down on camera with an illegal alien who is also facing charges of drug and sex trafficking. If margaritas happen to be involved? No biggie.
As for other gotcha questions, you just know Van Hollen wasn’t expecting this answer!
This is NOT the answer Sen. Chris Van Hollen was expecting from FBI Director Kash Patel:pic.twitter.com/zPzROFI4ej
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 12, 2026
HOLLEN: Will you take the test to determine if you have a drinking problem?
PATEL: I'll take any test you're willing to take.
HOLLEN: I'll take it!
PATEL: Let's go,…
By the way Chris, ‘I wasn’t drinking when the cameras were on!’ is silly defense. None of the Democrats acquitted themselves well today. As for Chris Van Hollen, he needs to take his margaritas and go home.
Feature Photo Credit: Senator Chris Van Hollen and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, cropped, public domain
Leave a Reply