WASHINGTON — An angry Kash Patel lashed out at Sen. Adam Schiff during a Senate hearing Tuesday, calling Schiff the “biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate,” a liar and a “political buffoon.”

Schiff, D-Calif., had been grilling the FBI director during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on some recent FBI actions.

The hearings are usually decorous affairs, where anger is routine but controlled.

Not this time.

Schiff was asking Patel about why Gislaine Maxwell, the assistant to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, had been transferred to a minimum security prison after being interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who had been President Donald Trump’s personal attorney.

“Who made that decision and why?” Schiff pointedly asked.

“The Bureau of Prisons,” Patel answered.

“The Bureau of Prisons decided on their own, without any consultation with Blanche or anyone else?” Schiff said, his voice growing angrier. “That they were suddenly after this interview, completely unrelated to this interview, completely unrelated to anything she said, moved to a prison not suitable for a sex offender?”

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to 240 months in prison for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse minor girls with Epstein.

“You want the American people to believe that? Do you think they’re stupid?” Schiff asked.

Patel gets mad

Patel, who had been getting pummeled by Democrats for nearly four hours, lost his calm demeanor.

“No. I think the American people believe the truth. I’m not in the weeds in the everyday movement of inmates,” he said. “What I’m doing is protecting the country (with) a historic reform combating the weaponization of intelligence by the likes of you.”

Then it got personal. Schiff and Patel have known each other for years. Schiff was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 2019 to 2923 and top Democrat for four years prior to that. Patel was a Republican staffer part of that time.

The Trump administration has long been at odds with Schiff, who led the House’s 2020 impeachment of Trump.

“We have constantly proven you to be a liar in Russiagate, in January 6,” Patel, his voice louder now, said. “You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate. You are a disgrace to the institution and an utter coward.

“You continue to lie from your perch and put on a show so you can go raise money for your charade,” he said. “You are a political buffoon at best.”

Finally Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, stopped the fight. “Both of you be quiet,” he said..

Padilla questions Patel

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., calmly told Patel that the Trump administration’s immigration policy has undermined federal agencies’ reliance on local sources for information.

That problem, he said, is “shaky, it’s worrisome and in my opinion overall you are failing to live up to the role and responsibility you have been confirmed to.”

Patel did not respond.

Padilla had noted that the director praised local law enforcement officials as providing valuable intelligence, since they knew their communities best.

The senator said that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was hiring and relying on partnerships with local law enforcement. Not only is that straining local officials, but it’s also forcing them to compete with ICE for recruits. he said.

“Our reliance on those local law enforcement agencies is a perilous strategy to take and could undermine local law enforcement’s ability to address crime at the local level,” Padilla said.

He asked Patel if local officials “are the best intelligence sources, is that correct?” Patel agreed.

But being overly aggressive toward immigrants is hurting those efforts, Padilla said. Immigrants who are victims of crime or witnesses could be afraid to come forward, worried ICE will question them about their status.

Patel, answering questions from other senators, said the partnerships with local officials were crucial to the agency’s work.

Republicans were sympathetic. “Is it more accurate to say you are using the federal government and its agencies… and its resources to supplement and amplify law enforcement efforts in these areas, cities and states, where the Democratic policies broke them?” asked Sen. Ashley Moody, D-Florida.

“We are,” Patel said, emphasizing the importance of partnerships.

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