Grassley Questions Director Patel at Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing

Grassley Questions Director Patel at Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing

WASHINGTON - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) questioned Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel at today's FBI oversight hearing.

Grassley pressed Patel on the FBI's work to root out suspected Afghan terrorists that entered the country through the Biden administration's Operation Allies Welcome program and the FBI's expansion of counter drone capabilities, as well as the FBI's efforts to combat whistleblower retaliation and shine light on Operation Round River and the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Patel thanked Grassley for his Big Tech oversight, which the director confirmed has resulted in "significantly improved" child safety reporting.

Video and a transcript of Grassley and Patel's exchange follow.

VIDEO

Protecting Kids Online

GRASSLEY: "In April 2026, I wrote to eight major internet companies to ensure NCMEC received enough data to hold online child predators accountable. NCMEC informed me last month that several companies have 'significantly improved' their child safety reporting. The FBI has assigned personnel to NCMEC to review online reports.

"What improvements can these companies make so that the FBI can more effectively turn the tables and hunt these predators down?"

PATEL: "These companies… [have] allowed us to gain access to their intelligence and their databases for the first time ever, in a secure fashion, specifically for the role of man-hunting child predators and finding missing and exploited children.

"As I stated in my opening, we have found and located over 11,000 children - that's up 20%. That's never happened before. So, thank you for that jolt in the arm that was needed in the private sector. We're going to continue to expand those engagements and work with Congress...so that this continuous flow of data can come in legally and lawfully, and that law enforcement can use it."

Oversight of the Afghan Parole Program

GRASSLEY: "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has produced to my office letters of recommendation for two Afghan evacuees placed in the United States during the Biden administration. Department of Homeland Security has confirmed in writing that the government official who signed the letters was Morgan Killington. According to State Department emails, Killington is not a real person.

"The Afghan evacuee charged with shooting two West Virginia National Guardsmen and the Afghan evacuee charged with funding ISIS-K received those letters of recommendation. Clearly, this is a sign of failed vetting.

"Is the FBI performing ongoing reviews to ensure known or suspected terrorists didn't slip into the country or otherwise should've been barred from entry? What has the FBI found to date?"

PATEL: "We are working with our partners at DHS who lead this mission… the number of known or suspected terrorists encountered at the northern and southern border have dropped, thanks to the [security] of the southern border and thanks to the presence of law enforcement and DHS on the northern border

"We're going to continue to work with our intel partners to reach back through and analyze Operation Allies Welcome after the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, and we'll continue to vet those individuals to make sure we never have an event, a tragic terrorist attack, like we witnessed here in the heart of Washington, D.C., last year in Thanksgiving."

Uncovering Prohibited Access Files and Operation Round River

GRASSLEY: "At last year's oversight hearing, I raised concerns about FBI files being hidden in Prohibited Access and Restricted Access cases. You noted last year that you'd produce records found in these types of cases, which you've done a good job of.

"Please update the committee on the steps you've taken to ensure these types of records are discoverable and that records can't be hidden from Congress, the courts and the American people."

PATEL: "The prohibitive cases, Mr. Chairman, were created just for that purpose - to evade transparency [and] to evade promulgation of FBI records that should be made available under FOIA and constitutional oversight. So, we simply did the following: I eliminated prohibited cases… we will work with your committee to continue producing records for what used to be called prohibitive cases."

GRASSLEY: "As I noted in my opening statement, I have concerns about how Round River records were stored, managed and classified. Round River was the operation that shut down certain government sources regarding the Biden family with apparently no justification. For example, some records include banner markings with 'Round River' as a classification code. This is highly unusual, if not outright improper.

"What steps have you taken to investigate any improper classification of Round River records and hold people accountable?"

PATEL: "Thanks to your referral, Mr. Chairman, and shedding light on this, we looked at the classification processes surrounding this 'creation' of a [classification] called Round River. We discovered that there was no FBI policy to substantiate such a classification, and that it was basically made up.

"So now, working with you and your staff, we are committed to continue to produce [records], on top of the nearly 2,000 pages of documents on Round River that we've already produced… We are conducting an internal investigation through the Inspection Division on the individuals who launched and codified this false and fake [classification]."

Combating Whistleblower Retaliation

GRASSLEY: "According to an August 2026 Justice Department Inspector General report, FBI officials during [former FBI Director] Wray's tenure retaliated against an FBI employee named Jacob Mercer. These FBI officials are still employed.

"At your nomination hearing, you committed to ensuring whistleblowers are protected from retaliation. What steps has the FBI taken to hold the retaliators accountable for their violation of law, and if nothing's been done, will you commit to updating the committee on accountability measures?"

PATEL: "That is in the middle of an internal investigation. As soon as I'm able to update the committee, after working with our Department of Justice partners, I will do so."

Expanding FBI's Counter Drone Capacity

GRASSLEY: "The Safer Skies Act granted long overdue authority to state and local law enforcement agencies to protect their communities from malicious drones. As of July 1st, the FBI had certified 46 eligible agencies to conduct drone mitigation, training a maximum of 16 officers per month. We can't get our law enforcement agencies certified to use these authorities fast enough.

"What's the FBI doing to expand and expedite its counter drone training capacity for eligible state and local law enforcement agencies?"

PATEL: "The FBI, under my leadership, stood up the first ever counter-UAS school, called NCUTC, down at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, where we've trained hundreds of law enforcement officers…

"What we've asked Congress for is increased funding so that we can triple the size of that school, allowing more state and local officers to come in and work with us, and deploy them like we did during the World Cup on our ground intercept teams to cover 11 separate venues and take down 750 drones. We need more equipment, more tech and more bodies trained."

Exposing the Weaponized Crossfire Hurricane Investigation

GRASSLEY: "For almost a decade, I've exposed political weaponization during Crossfire Hurricane and so have you. President Trump issued an Executive Order in each of his administrations mandating declassification of Crossfire Hurricane records.

"Please describe the steps you've taken to ensure full declassification and whether other agencies, like the CIA, have created roadblocks to declassifying all records."

PATEL: "The Crossfire Hurricane declassification at the FBI, at least what's under my control, Mr. Chairman, has been fully declassified. There is some information in there that I do not control because we do not own it, and we have vigorously worked with our intelligence community partners to declassify that. We've produced the largest amount of Crossfire Hurricane documentation to the Congress ever, and we're going to continue."

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