The Latest: Kash Patel confronts Senate questions over probe into Charlie Kirk’s killing

Audio By Carbonatix

FBI Director Kash Patel touted his leadership of the nation’s top federal law enforcement agency as he faced questions from senators about the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s killing, the case against sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the firings of senior FBI officials who have accused Patel of illegal political retribution.

His appearance Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee represents the first oversight hearing of Patel’s young but tumultuous tenure and provides a high-stakes platform for him to confront skeptical Democrats at a time of internal upheaval and mounting concerns about political violence inside the United States, which President Donald Trump has squarely blamed on the left. Patel listed a series of what he said were accomplishments of his first months on the job, including his efforts to fight violent crime and protect children.

The Latest:

JB Pritzker, a frequent Trump critic, accused the president of being forgetful and unreliable, suggesting he “might be suffering from some dementia.”

“When he said that he wasn’t coming to Chicago, I didn’t trust that,” Pritzker said Tuesday. “When he says he is coming to Chicago, it’s hard to believe anything he says.”

Trump has vowed to send military troops to the nation’s third-largest city but repeatedly changed his statements. He’s said he’d prefer cooperative cities but on Tuesday again mentioned Chicago as a possibility for the next deployment.

Elected leaders and many residents strongly oppose any federal intervention.

The investment includes $15 billion in capital expenditures to build out cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure. A project with British company Nscale aims to build the nation’s largest supercomputer, running on more than 23,000 advanced graphics processor chips.

“We’re focused on British pounds, not empty tech promises, because it’s easy to have big numbers but we will be good for every cent of this investment,” Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, told reporters Tuesday.

He said the investments were separate from those made through the Stargate project and Microsoft’s longtime partner OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, which is increasingly trying to set its own course without the software giant’s help.

Smith credited the U.K.’s “regulatory stability” and its commitment to expanding the supply of electricity needed to power data centers. He said Microsoft didn’t receive any request from the Trump administration to make the announcement.

A man detained by authorities days after he nearly died in an Iowa shooting is one of a growing number of crime victims who have been targeted in the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Felipe de Jesus Hernandez Marcelo was shot in June during an attempted robbery in Muscatine, Iowa, and has been detained since shortly after he got out of the hospital.

In January, Immigration and Customs Enforcement rescinded a policy that had shielded many victims from detention and removal. The number of people applying for visas that allow some victims to remain in the country has plummeted since then. Others have been detained unexpectedly by ICE as they go through the lengthy application process.

▶ Read more about how ICE is moving to deport more victims of crime

Trump is extending a deadline for the social media app TikTok to shut down.

It will be the fourth time that Trump has ignored federal law and extended a deadline for TikTok to go out of business. Trump has signed an executive order to keep TikTok operating, a day after he said he’d reached a framework deal with China to keep it operating.

The president issued an executive order creating a Presidential Emergency Board meant to resolve a contract dispute that nearly triggered a strike on the Long Island Railroad this week.

“Once again, President Trump is stepping up when Democrats have failed,” Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said in an apparent dig at Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Unionized LIRR workers voted to authorize a strike on Monday but also approved seeking federal intervention. The move pushed the possibility of a strike at least into January.

The Israeli prime minister says Trump had invited him to visit on Sept. 29, after he addresses the United Nations General Assembly.

It will be Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the White House since Trump assumed office in January.

A group of Democratic governors is urging congressional leaders to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits. They write in a letter that letting the credits expire would cause harm that “will be felt for years.”

The appeal comes as Congress is moving toward a potential government shutdown, with Republicans and Democrats at odds over how to continue the tax credits that have made health insurance more affordable for millions.

The 18 Democratic governors wrote that “these subsidies are the only reason health insurance is still within reach in a country where the cost of living keeps going up.”

The letter was sent Monday and advised both Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate that “this isn’t a partisan issue.”

Neither offered any further on-the-record detail after Trump suggested the U.S. military had carried out an operation on a third vessel from Venezuela.

Asked earlier on Tuesday by a reporter about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s angry response to two military strikes carried out by the U.S. military in recent weeks on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean, Trump replied “We knocked off, actually, three boats not two.”

The Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which has not provided details about where and when the third military operation took place.

President Trump says on social media that Republicans will hold the gathering to highlight “the great things we have done” since he was reelected in 2024.

The convention’s date and location are still to come, Trump says. But he promised that “it will be quite the Event, and very exciting!”

Trump first floated the idea after news reports that the Democratic Party was considering its own gathering before the 2026 midterm elections to highlight candidates and garner attention as the party aims to regain control of both houses of Congress next year.

Patel has finished testifying after a contentious 4 ½ hour hearing before Congress.

The final round of questioning for the FBI director came from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Tillis issued a call to both sides of the aisle, including fellow conservatives, to tone down the rhetoric in the face of escalating political violence in the U.S.

“How on earth are we de-escalating the situation with the tensions as high as they were last week with going out and saying we’re at war?” Tillis said. “There are people out here on our side of the aisle that still need to look in the mirror.”

The FBI director shouted over the California Democrat during questioning on how the Trump administration has handled the Jeffrey Epstein files and Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

“You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate,” Patel shouted at Schiff.

“You are a political buffoon at best!” Patel added.

Schiff tried to yell over him, saying, “You can make an internet troll the FBI director, but (he) will always be nothing more than an internet troll.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican chairman of the Senate Judicial Committee, pounded his gavel repeatedly, but Patel continued.

The feud between Patel and Schiff dates back years, to when Patel was a staffer on the House Intelligence Committee and Schiff was a House member.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois says immigration agents have arrested 250 people in the Chicago area since a new enforcement campaign was announced last week.

The Democrat is a member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations and got the information after a requested briefing with immigration officials. She shared details late Monday.

Underwood says the arrests began Sept. 6, two days earlier than a program touted as “Midway Blitz” was publicly announced. She says the operation would include the entire state of Illinois and neighboring Lake County in Indiana.

Top administration officials arrived in Chicago Tuesday, potentially signaling a more aggressive phase of immigration enforcement. DHS officials have not responded to questions about the number of arrests in the Chicago area.

Immigrants are being detained in various locations, sparking fear and leading some people to stay home. Advocates report increased activity from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with unmarked vehicles targeting work vans and staking out neighborhoods with large immigrant populations.

One Metro Boston city canceled its Hispanic Heritage Month festival due to safety concerns. ICE’s “Patriot 2.0” operation follows a previous crackdown in Boston.

The U.S. Department of Justice has also filed a lawsuit against Boston over its so-called sanctuary policies. Advocates argue the city’s policy of limiting cooperation with ICE keeps the city safe and ensures Boston remains a place for all residents.

Opponents argue challenging the federal government risks much-needed federal funding and allows criminals to walk the streets.

▶ Read more about ICE detentions intensifying in so-called sanctuary cities

Patel had posted in the hours after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk that “the subject” was in custody even though the actual suspect was still at large.

“I don’t see it as a mistake. I see it as something -- working with the public to identify that there was a subject in custody,” Patel told senators.

He said he wanted to inform the public that a subject had been taken into custody, even though that person did not end up being the suspect in the shooting.

He told senators: “Could I have been more careful in my verbiage and said we had a subject instead of the subject? Sure.”

Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, pushed back, saying it caused confusion by making it sound like authorities had caught the person suspected of killing Kirk.

Patel shot back by saying, “That’s not what I said.”

A group of Democratic senators say they are deeply concerned that a Pentagon plan to allow military lawyers to work as temporary immigration judges will violate a ban on using service members for law enforcement and affect the military justice system.

The letter, sent to the military services and provided to The Associated Press, comes two weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges. It is among the steps the Trump administration has taken to use the military in broader ways than previously seen, particularly in its immigration crackdown, including sending the National Guard into American cities and deploying active duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“These military officers would serve under the command and control of the Attorney General and would execute administrative determinations at the direction of the Attorney General,” according to the letter signed by 12 Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee. It added that “these actions are inherently law enforcement actions that may not be performed by members of the armed forces.”

Republican Gov. Mike Braun said that the redistricting conversation is “moving” and it’s likely inevitable. But he doesn’t want to call a special session unless there will be a successful outcome.

“I’ve been very clear, I want it to be organic,” he said in a video reported by WRTV in Indianapolis.

Indiana GOP lawmakers have been hesitant about redistricting while Texas and Missouri barrel ahead, emblematic of Indiana’s independent streak. Braun said a special session could happen any time after November.

The GOP legislative caucuses met last week to discuss redistricting a few weeks after visiting the White House.

Gov. Josh Shapiro says the nation must “turn the tide” against political violence and the belief that government can’t solve problems while also rejecting vengeance.

Shapiro, a Democrat, delivered the remarks at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh. Shapiro said leaders must condemn all forms of political violence and shouldn’t use violence as a pretext for more violence or to prosecute constitutionally protected speech.

Shapiro also criticized Trump, saying some people “in the dark corners of the internet, all the way to the Oval Office, want to cherry-pick which instances of political violence they want to condemn.”

In April, Shapiro and his family fled the governor’s official residence in the middle of the night after an alleged arsonist set it on fire in an attempt to kill Shapiro.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he has had no direct conversations with the White House or Border Patrol and reaffirmed that Chicago police would not collaborate with ICE.

“I get that people are feeling a level of anxiety, but they should be assured that we’re going to work with all of our stakeholders to make sure the people of Chicago are safe and supported,” he said at a news conference following his signing of an executive order aiming to protect the right to protest.

The order states that, if federal law enforcement disrupts peaceful protests, Chicago police will “collaborate with protest organizers to develop a mutually acceptable alternative plan.”

Johnson said the order was an attempt to be “proactive” amid federal intervention and after protesters clashed with federal immigration agents Friday outside an ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois.

They unveiled a stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government through Nov. 21.

The bill generally funds agencies at current levels, though there is an extra $88 million to boost security for lawmakers and members of the Supreme Court and the executive branch. The House is expected to vote on the measure by Friday.

The budget year draws to a close at the end of the month and Congress has yet to approve funding levels for the coming fiscal year. So, lawmakers will need to pass a stopgap measure to keep agencies funded while they work out their differences for the full year.

Democratic leaders have insisted that Republicans negotiate with them on the spending bill to protect health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. But Republicans leaders have rebuffed those demands and say those discussions are for another time and would not be part of the continuing resolution.

Any spending bill that passes will need some support from Democrats in the Senate as the measure will need at least 60 votes to advance to a final vote.

Patel and the New Jersey Democrat got into a shouting match as Booker charged that Patel is responsible for a “generational destruction of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.”

Patel fired back at Booker, telling him that he was an “embarrassment.”

For several moments, the Republican chairman of the committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, pounded his gavel but struggled to gain control of the two men.

Still, Booker predicted that Patel would not last long in his post. He told Patel that Trump “will cut you loose. This may be the last time I have a hearing with you.”

Patel took the opportunity to give a fiery retort to Democratic senators who say the reason he got the job was his loyalty to President Donald Trump.

Patel’s leadership of the FBI has been marked by turmoil and Democratic accusations that he’s using the law enforcement agency to carry out Trump’s goals.

But Patel told the Senate panel that it was “an entire falsehood” to suggest that he only got the job because he was a Trump loyalist.

Patel pointed to his experience as an attorney, congressional staffer and administration official, saying, “There was no loyalty then. There’s no loyalty now to anything but the Constitution.”

Former Republican and onetime Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan is running as a Democrat for governor, a remarkable step for a staunch critic of Trump who left the conservative fold in a region where party switchers have gone in the other direction for generations.

“I’ve never wavered in taking on Trump. So Georgia Republicans threw me out of their party,” Duncan said in his announcement video released Tuesday. “I was leaving anyway. Now I’m running for governor as a proud Democrat.”

A 50-year-old resident of a Republican stronghold north of Atlanta, Duncan joins an already crowded field of lifelong Democrats. Top candidates include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves and former labor commissioner Michael Thurmond.

Trump seemed miffed when an Australian Broadcasting Corp. reporter asked about his wealth since returning to office. Trump told the reporter, ’You’re hurting Australia very much right now, and they want to get along with me.”

He told the reporter that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would be visiting soon and “I’m going to tell him about you. You set a very bad tone.”

The president also criticized ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl, whom he’s known for years. Karl asked Trump about the attorney general’s comments that she will be going after hate speech after the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Karl told Trump that even some of his allies say hate speech is free speech.

Trump responded by telling Karl the administration would “probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly, it’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart.”

The House Select Committee on China says any deal between Beijing and Washington must comply with a law requiring TikTok to be divested from its Chinese ownership or face a ban in the U.S.

A framework deal was reached over the future of the popular social media platform at a trade meeting Monday in Madrid. Details remain unknown. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said he wants information on the ownership structure.

“Underpinning all of our concerns is the Chinese Communist Party’s access to American data,” he said. The social media platform needs user data to determine what to show users, and Krishnamoorthi said he would be open to discussions if the app is protected from Beijing’s infiltration.

In a tense exchange, Sen. Richard Blumenthal accused the FBI director of lying when he told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing that agents would not be subject to political retribution.

Patel objected to the accusation, telling the Democrat from Connecticut: “You accusing me of lying is something I don’t take lightly, but I’m not going to get into a tit for tat with you.”

The FBI director insisted that decisions to fire certain FBI agents were made by him, not the White House.

“Any termination at the FBI was a decision that I made based on the evidence that I have as director of the FBI,” Patel said. “It’s my job and I’m not going to shy away from it.”

“There is no credible information — none. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals,” Patel said, while also acknowledging that previous investigations of Epstein were limited.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said that kind of answer was unlikely to satisfy demands to release more information.

“This issue is not going to go away,” Kennedy said. “And I think the central question for the American people is this: They know that Epstein trafficked young women for sex to himself. They want to know who if anyone else he trafficked these young women to.”

Patel said that the current case files only included “limited search warrants” between 2006 and 2007 because federal prosecutors in Florida had previously cut a secret deal with Epstein that allowed him to avoid prosecution for his previous actions

Patel says the FBI has 35 open investigations into threats against judges, who have faced a sharp increase in violent messages in recent years.

Federal judges were targeted in 17 of those cases, while the others involved threats against state court judges, Patel said.

The FBI director said he’s concerned about the problem, and the agency is referring cases for prosecution when it’s supported by the evidence.

Judges have increasingly spoken out against threats of violence, pointing to worrying rhetoric from both sides of the political aisle in recent years and saying the threats have reached a new peak during the second Trump administration.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in an X post that she was “on the ground” Tuesday in Chicago “to make clear we are not backing down.”

“Our work is only beginning,” she said.

Gregory Bovino, who spearheaded the immigration crackdown that sparked widespread protests in Los Angeles, also announced his arrival: “Well, Chicago, we’ve arrived!” he said. “Operation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles.”

Advocates for immigrants say they’ve noticed an uptick in detentions by ICE agents in Chicago as the nation’s third-largest city braces for Trump’s promised immigration crackdown and National Guard deployment. The threats have deepened dread among already fearful immigrant communities, which cancelled and delayed Mexican Independence Day celebrations. An ICE officer fatally shot a suspect trying to evade arrest last week.

Johnson also defended employers who take action against employees whose comments go too far.

“That’s not the government censoring speech, that’s personal behavior and decorum,” the Republican from Louisiana said.

Johnson noted that Trump has been called “the most despicable names” and he urged all leaders to tone it down.

“Leaders cannot call their political opponents Nazis and fascists and enemies of the state because they disagree with their policy priorities,” he said.

Speaker Mike Johnson said a bill to avoid a partial government shutdown at month’s end would not include health care provisions sought by Democrats.

“It will be a clean, short-term continuing resolution. End of story,” Johnson told reporters. He said the measure will be unveiled Tuesday.

Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has said House Democrats won’t support a partisan bill that “continues to gut the healthcare of the American people.”

But Johnson said Republicans are not going to revisit their big tax cut bill that trimmed Medicaid spending over the coming decade, and said the looming expiration of tax credits for some health insurance coverage is a “December policy issue.”

“The same Democrats who decried government shutdowns under President Biden appear to have no heartache whatsoever at walking our nation off that cliff right now,” Johnson said.

The lawsuit against the paper and four of its journalists, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Florida, says several articles and one book published in the leadup to the 2024 election are “part of a decades-long pattern by the New York Times of intentional and malicious defamation against President Trump.”

Times spokesman Charles Stadtlander said Tuesday the lawsuit “lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting. The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.” Penguin Random House, which published the book, called the lawsuit “meritless.”

Trump has gone after other media outlets, including filing a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch in July after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Patel was asked by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., whether the Kirk shooting is being treated as part of a broader trend of violence against religious groups, and Patel responded, “We are investigating Charlie’s assassination fully and completely and running out every lead related to any allegation of broader violence.”

Patel also said that the FBI is investigating “anyone and everyone” who was involved in an online gaming chatroom on Discord with the alleged shooter. That chatroom involved “a lot more” than 20 people, Patel said.

The FBI director told Sen. Amy Klobuchar that he is “willing to engage and explore new ways” to address gun violence in the United States.

“Whatever creativity we can use to eliminate even just one shooting, one horrific death, I am in favor of engaging with Congress fully to do,” Patel told the Democrat from Minnesota.

Patel was later pressed by Klobuchar on whether he supports a ban on so-called assault weapons.

The FBI director said there are “instances on this legislation that could prevent future attacks” but said he would not “weigh into the creation of legislation.”

The FBI director says his agency, as well as the U.S. military and intelligence community, will be conducting a yearslong mission that seeks to use counterterrorism tactics against drug-trafficking organizations.

“We must treat them like foreign terrorist organizations post-9/11. We must treat them like the al-Qaidas of the world,” Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Patel argued that law enforcement resources alone aren’t enough to dismantle criminal groups that traffic drugs into the U.S. and that the Trump administration is taking an “interagency” approach.

“Whether that’s in a kill operation, a capture operation, a surrender operation, or a host nation takedown, like we did with the counterterrorism mission sets in Afghanistan and Iraq and Pakistan and elsewhere, we are applying that to the drug traffickers in Mexico and Venezuela and Colombia,” Patel said.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday he will seek a third term in the 2026 elections, hoping to beat the odds to become the longest-serving governor in a state where voters have usually said two terms were plenty.

“I’ve always tried to do what’s right for Minnesota, and I’ll never stop fighting to protect us from the chaos, corruption, and cruelty coming out of Washington,” Walz said in a campaign video.

Walz has been frequently mentioned as a potential 2028 presidential candidate. He sharply criticized Trump while touring early caucus and primary states after he and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris were defeated. But he told Axios in July he would not run for president if he sought reelection.

▶ Read more about Walz’s decision to run for governor again

Questioned by Durbin on the recent firings of FBI agents, Patel said he would not get into personnel decisions and accused the Democrat of unfairly attacking FBI leadership.

Earlier in the hearing, Patel called it “absolutely disgraceful” to cite what the FBI director described as a “one-sided story” about the firings.

“Your attack on the current leadership of the men and women of the FBI is equally disgraceful,” the FBI director told Durbin.

Patel is facing a lawsuit from three high-ranking FBI officials who have accused him of illegally firing them in a “campaign of retribution.”

“We knocked off, actually, three boats not two,” Trump told reporters when asked about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s angry response to U.S. military operations that the White House says is targeting Venezuelan drug smugglers.

Trump had confirmed earlier that the U.S. military on Monday had targeted a second boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel. He also hinted that the military targeting of cartels could be further expanded.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about when and where the third strike occurred.

Trump also sent a new warning to the Maduro government on Tuesday:

“Stop sending Tren de Aragua to the United States,” Trump said. “Stop sending drugs into the United States.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a close ally of Trump, asked the FBI director what legal justification the administration is using for military strikes on Venezuelan boats that the president has said are carrying drugs.

Patel declined to answer, saying he would leave that to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

While Republicans in Congress haven’t objected to Trump using the U.S. military to strike the boats, some are beginning to ask questions on how the operations are conducted and their legal justification.

Still, Graham expressed support for an aggressive approach to nations where drugs are manufactured.

“We will hunt down every single one of those narco-traffickers,” Patel told Graham.

Durbin asked Patel about statements from Dan Bongino before he became deputy director of the FBI that the bombs found at the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee on Jan. 6, 2021, were an “inside job.”

The FBI director declined to comment on Bongino’s comments, but said he found Durbin’s criticism of Bongino “disgusting.”

“So you have no evidence?” asked Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I got a lot of evidence, and I’ll give it to you when I can,” Patel said.

The person who placed the bombs just before the attack on the U.S. Capitol that day has never been identified.

During one combative exchange, Patel was pressed by the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee over an unsigned memo released by the Justice Department in July that said there was no evidence of a Jeffrey Epstein “client list.”

Patel responded with a dig at former President Joe Biden, telling Durbin: “Would you have preferred I used autopen?”

Republicans have accused the Democratic president of signing pardons in this final days in the White House with an autopen instead of by his own hand.

The Senate hearing is quickly becoming tense, with the FBI director repeatedly avoiding answering questions from Sen. Durbin on how the bureau has administered polygraph tests to staff.

Patel told Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, that he wouldn’t discuss the specifics of how polygraph tests are administered or what questions come up.

Durbin responded, “You have to have a decent memory when you come before a committee.”

The Associated Press has previously reported that agents and senior executives alike have been subjected to polygraph exams aimed at ferreting out disclosures of information related to Patel.

Patel brought up the Epstein files in his opening statement, seeking to address a topic that’s brought criticism from some quarters of Trump’s conservative base who want to see more information released about the probe.

The FBI director faulted the original case against Jeffrey Epstein that ended in a plea deal years ago. He says it involved a “very limited search warrant” and asserted that the Trump administration has done more to release all “credible information” they could under the law.

Patel also said Epstein had not been a source for the FBI.

He didn’t acknowledge criticism that the FBI and Justice Department have faced in recent months over the abrupt announcement in July that they would not be releasing additional documents from their trove of evidence.

The state’s high court on Tuesday declined to hear Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ appeal of her removal from the case.

Trump reacted to the news by saying it was a “great decision” and a “rigged case to start off with.”

He also called for Willis to be jailed for attempting to prosecute him and several other individuals.

▶ Read more on the ruling in the Georgia election fraud case against Trump and others

Patel has concluded his opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee with a bit of a challenge for his critics: “I’m not going anywhere.”

The FBI director pointed to his experience as a congressional staffer and Trump administration official, saying, “If you want to criticize my 16 years of service, please bring it on.”

Senate Republicans have continued to express confidence in Patel despite criticism from some conservative commentators of how he’s led the FBI’s response to the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Democrats, meanwhile, will intensely question Patel over what they say is a highly politicized approach to the FBI.

The Illinois Democrat says both political parties “have a responsibility to bring down the temperature” and encourage unity following Kirk’s killing.

In his opening remarks earlier in the hearing, Durbin said Democrats are not responsible for Kirk’s death, just as Republicans are not responsible for the killing of a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota earlier this year.

The country is going through a period of division and political violence, he said, but “Republicans are not Nazis, Democrats are not evil.”

Patel’s opening remarks highlighted his efforts to transform the bureau to focus on combating violent crime.

Patel said the FBI has arrested more than 23,000 violent criminals this year — an increase compared with last year. He also touted the FBI’s efforts to target drug trafficking and violent drug cartels.

Critics have raised concerns that the focus on immigration enforcement and violent crime could divert attention from the FBI’s ability to focus on matters like counterterrorism.

He has faced some criticism from conservative corners about how he has led the FBI in the wake of the shooting, but Patel told the Senate panel that his agency — “at my direction” — successfully brought the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s killing into custody.

He also has touted the number of arrests made by the FBI, saying it represents an increase from the Biden administration.

“We are leading the mission to crush violent crime and defend the homeland,” Patel said.

The president said, “they’ve been friends of mine for a long time,” called the king an “elegant gentleman” and said, “I think he represents the country so well.”

The president, speaking as he was leaving the White House, said that U.K. officials want to continue trade negotiations during his coming visit.

“They’d like to see if they can get a little bit better deal, so we’ll talk to them” he said.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin, opened his remarks by criticizing Patel for the removal of career FBI officials and the diversion of agents to help with immigration enforcement.

Durbin called Patel “arguably the most partisan FBI director ever,” saying he has “already inflicted untold damage on the FBI.” Durbin accused Patel of putting the country’s “national security and public safety at risk.”

Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley opened the hearing expressing sympathy for the fatal shooting last week of Charlie Kirk, which is under FBI investigation.

Then he ran through a list of GOP criticisms of FBI investigations related to politics, ranging from the prosecution of White House adviser Peter Navarro for his response to a congressional subpoena, to the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. He also pledged to release new whistleblower records.

Grassley decried Kirk’s “political assassination,” calling Kirk a “man of God, faith, family and country.”

Prosecutors are preparing to file a capital murder charge Tuesday against the Utah man who authorities say held a “leftist ideology” and may have been “radicalized” online before he was arrested in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Charges against 22-year-old Tyler Robinson are expected to come ahead of Tuesday’s first court hearing since he was accused last week of shooting Kirk, a conservative activist credited with energizing the Republican youth movement and helping Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024.

U.S. indices were mostly higher early Tuesday after Wall Street set new records and investor expectation grew that the Federal Reserve will announce its first interest rate cut of 2025 on Wednesday.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% before the bell Tuesday while Big Tech stocks pulled Nasdaq futures 0.3% higher. Futures for the Dow Jones industrials were unchanged.

Oracle shares jumped 5% on speculation it would play a major part in the U.S.-China deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. after the Trump administration announced the framework of a trade deal on Monday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after the latest round of trade talks between the world’s two largest economies that Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping would speak Friday to possibly finalize the deal.

Citing an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship Fulton County District Attorney had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, the Georgia Court of Appeals had ruled that she and her office not continue to prosecute the case. election interference case against Donald Trump and others.

Steve Sadow, Trump’s attorney in the Georgia case, said in a statement that Willis “deserved nothing less than disqualification.” A spokesperson for Willis did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.

The decision means it will be up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to find another prosecutor, who could continue on the track that Willis has taken, decide to pursue only some charges or dismiss the case altogether.