[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 150 (Monday, September 15, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6586-S6587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Federal Bureau of Investigation

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is in 
crisis. Tomorrow will be the first time the Director, Kash Patel, will 
come before the Senate Judiciary Committee as Director to be questioned 
about his management of the Bureau.
  In just the first weeks of this administration, we witnessed the 
unprecedented and forced removal of dozens of senior FBI officials--
decorated career professionals who spent their lives protecting this 
country from terrorism, espionage, and cyber attacks. These patriots 
swore an oath to defend the Constitution and served Republican and 
Democratic Presidents alike.
  They were shown the door for one reason: political retribution. Don't 
take my word for it. Just last week, former Acting FBI Director Brian 
Driscoll filed a Federal lawsuit accusing Director Patel and other 
Trump officials of orchestrating the politically motivated purge of the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  Those who are familiar with the history of this Agency know that we 
went to great lengths to depoliticize the ranks of the FBI, the 
Director having a 10-year term, which meant that he or she would 
outlast any single President.

  Time and again, we have set standards for the FBI that were above and 
beyond those across the ranks of government. There was a time when an 
FBI agent had to either have a law degree or a degree in accounting to 
qualify to be an FBI agent. It was a professional operation. There were 
questions raised about J. Edgar Hoover and other in the past, but 
basically the FBI has enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best 
law enforcement Agencies in the world.
  According to Driscoll, though, Mr. Patel said:

       The FBI tried to put the President in jail, and he hasn't 
     forgotten it.

  It makes sense. And no one up and down the chain of command has been 
spared from his retribution at every level of government. All six of 
the FBI's Executive Assistant Directors--gone under the Trump 
administration. At least 18 special agents in Chicago of major field 
offices--gone. As many as 5,000 nonpartisan career public servants--
gone.
  This brain drain at the FBI took place under Patel. It represents 
thousands of years of institutional knowledge wiped away in the blink 
of an eye. And when the FBI Director is so clearly ill-prepared to lead 
when under pressure, this deliberate razing of law enforcement 
expertise from his organization is even more shocking and dangerous for 
national security.
  Brian Driscoll dedicated his professional life to serving his 
country. For nearly two decades, he held some of the Bureau's most 
demanding and sensitive assignments--serving on a SWAT team, leading 
the elite Hostage Rescue Team, and serving as Tactical Section Chief 
for the Critical Incident Response Group. For his bravery under fire 
during tactical operations, Mr. Driscoll was awarded both the FBI Medal 
of Valor and the Shield of Bravery--among the highest honors the Bureau 
can bestow.
  Mr. Driscoll was forced out after he resisted Patel and the White 
House's demand that he produce a list of thousands of FBI personnel who 
worked on investigations related to the January 6 attack on the U.S. 
Capitol.
  Keep the record straight in your mind. On January 6, an 
insurrectionist mob crashed into this building and drove Congress away 
at time when we were actually counting the ballots for the electoral 
college to determine the next President.
  President Trump had rallied these demonstrators down on the Mall, and 
they marched up here, crashed through the windows, beat up on our 
police, and actually came into this Senate Chamber, aping themselves 
around here, sitting in the chair of the Presiding Officer. It was a 
sad and embarrassing day in the history of the United States.
  I will just draw an analogy. If we heard that a mob crashed through 
the doors of Parliament in the House of Commons in London, what would 
we think? My goodness. What has happened to that great country?
  Well, it happened here. I was an eyewitness to it, as were hundreds 
of others--driving out the Senators and the Vice President of the 
United States, Vice President Pence, from that chair that the Presiding 
Officer is sitting in.
  That was the reality. Over 140 Capitol and DC police were injured in 
the process. Several gave their lives as result of it.
  It was a serious moment. It was an embarrassing moment in our 
history. And now there is an effort to whitewash it. The first stop was 
with the FBI.
  When the FBI prosecuted these mobsters who crashed into this building 
and sent some of them to jail, there was a steady beat from Mr. Patel 
and others that it was unfair. He even went so far as to organize those 
who had been arrested and prosecuted successfully or pled guilty into a 
choir. Yes, that is right--a singing group. He had them making some 
kind of musical selection from time to time, trying to diminish the 
seriousness of the charges against them.
  So what happened when Mr. Patel--totally unqualified--became head of 
the FBI? He went out looking for FBI agents who investigated those 
mobsters and those insurrectionists. That is what was behind Mr. 
Driscoll's decision not to cooperate with him--so that those agents who 
were simply doing their duty and handing out successful prosecutions 
would not be penalized.
  Mr. Driscoll's removal deprived the FBI of a leader whose expertise, 
courage, and judgment were forged over

[[Page S6587]]

decades on the frontlines defending America's security.
  After leaving a promising career in finance, Mehtab Syed dedicated 
nearly 20 years to the FBI, rising from counterterrorism assignments 
and overseas postings in Islamabad and Amman to senior leadership in 
cyber and counterintelligence. She was a special agent in charge of the 
Salt Lake City field office and now should be leading the investigation 
of the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk, but she was forced out 
this summer because, in the words of someone at the Bureau, she was 
``not a good fit.'' She was a woman of color. They don't fare well in 
the Trump administration.
  We don't even know exactly what impact her steady and experienced 
leadership could have had on this investigation. But we lost a talented 
and dedicated person whose talents were applied for the safety of our 
country. We do know that the person who pushed her out--Director 
Patel--who will be testifying tomorrow, quickly took to social media 
and falsely announced that the suspect was in custody--remember that?--
only to be forced to walk back those claims shortly thereafter.
  At least 18 special agents in charge at the FBI--the top leaders in 
the field--have been forced into retirement or reassigned to diminished 
roles.
  This hollowing out of the FBI creates a danger to the security of 
this country. These are not midlevel bureaucrats; these men and women 
oversee hundreds of agents and manage some of the most sensitive and 
complex investigations in the country. Many of these special agents in 
charge have spent their careers in counterintelligence and cyber 
operations, defending this country against hostile foreign powers, 
espionage, and cyber attacks.

  Many devoted decades to civil rights enforcement, public corruption, 
and violent crime investigations, ensuring that State and local law 
enforcement across the country were working closely with seasoned 
Federal law enforcement leaders they can trust. Still others rose from 
frontline criminal work to lead major field offices. Their backgrounds 
range from forensic science to counterintelligence--skills not easily 
replaced and desperately needed.
  Director Patel's foolhardy decision to force out these leaders within 
the FBI has hollowed out this important Agency. It has cost the Bureau 
decades of institutional knowledge and diminished its capacity to 
respond to the greatest threats facing our Nation.
  Tomorrow at the hearing, I will go into detail about some of the 
Bureaus and Agencies within the FBI that have been diminished and 
hollowed out. Instead, many of the professionals of that Agency have 
been transported to the President's mass deportation crusade.
  These dedicated professionals and so many more were fired, forced 
out, or reassigned to diminished roles because they had the courage to 
do their jobs, whether that meant investigating the January 6 riot, 
preventing domestic terrorism, pursuing corruption, or upholding the 
rule of law.
  The FBI Agents Association has warned that the Patel-Trump purge of 
the FBI will ``severely weaken the Bureau's ability to protect the 
country from national security and criminal threats and ultimately risk 
setting up the Bureau for failure.''
  At a moment when foreign adversaries are shredding our cyber 
defenses, when terrorist organizations remain determined to strike, 
when violent crime continues to threaten our communities, we are losing 
the very people best equipped to respond.
  The American people deserve an FBI that is focused on keeping them 
safe and protecting our Constitution. Instead, what they are getting is 
an FBI that prioritizes political retribution and the Director's social 
media clout.
  Tomorrow, I will press Director Patel on his decisions to weaken the 
FBI, which was designed to protect our American families, by forcing 
out its most experienced public servants at the expense of our national 
security and public safety.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Oregon.