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Embattled FBI director Kash Patel has denied under oath present allegations of indecent ingesting and unexplained absences on the job, dismissing them as “baseless” at some level of a fiery congressional listening to.

Democrats challenged him over the “extraordinarily alarming” experiences, first reported in the Atlantic mid-April, which they argued would amount to a “nasty dereliction” of accountability. The FBI director has sued the journal, and the author of a story it printed, submitting a defamation lawsuit in US district court docket for the District of Columbia that seeks $250m in damages.

In his opening remarks, Chris Van Hollen, ranking member of the Senate appropriations committee, stated: “What we’re learning about what’s taking place at the FBI is the leisure but frequent. When your individual actions dangle it now not capacity for you to rep your public duties, now we maintain a mountainous wretchedness … these experiences about your behavior, including experiences you’re being so drunk and hungover that your workers had to force entry into your space are extraordinarily alarming, if correct, they level to a nasty dereliction of your accountability and a betrayal of public have faith.”

“It’s a total farce. I don’t even know where you rep this stuff,” Patel told Van Hollen, after the head Democrat requested in regards to the claims reported by the Atlantic. “I’ll now not be tarnished by baseless allegations,” Patel stated.

When Van Hollen requested if Patel may per chance well be willing to rob a test to seek out out whether or now not he has a ingesting wretchedness, the FBI director snapped that he would – provided the senator rob it alongside him.

Patel attempted to flip the tables on Van Hollen, alleging that the Maryland senator had been caught on camera ingesting “margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer buck”, a reference to photography Van Hollen has credibly described as a hoax staged by an aide to El Salvador’s a long way-graceful president, Nayib Bukele.

Patel then claimed that documents filed by the senator’s space of job showed that Van Hollen “ran up a $7,000 bar tab in Washington DC at the Lobby Bar”.

“The excellent particular person in this room that has been ingesting on taxpayer dime at some level of the day is you,” Patel shouted.

A Van Hollen spokesperson told the Guardian that the FBI director’s claim turned into a distortion of publicly accessible data, in the originate of the senator’s most present Federal Election Commission campaign spending file, which showed that he spent that money on tournament catering at the bar, which moreover offers a paunchy dinner menu, on 12 December 2025.

The $7,128 cost to the Lobby Bar, the senator’s space of job explained, “turned into a catering cost at a native restaurant where the Senator hosted an after-hours holiday reception as a thanks to the 50+ contributors of our team, paid for by campaign funds – now not taxpayer greenbacks”.

The Atlantic had reported that Patel’s alcohol consumption had change into “a recurring source of direct across the authorities”, citing interviews with extra than two dozen of us, including present and gentle FBI officers. The most serious allegations consist of that his safety detail on now not decrease than one occasion struggled to evoke him because he looked intoxicated, and that agents had sought “Swat-stage breaching tools” to dangle rep entry to to a room where he turned into unresponsive.

Patel has forcefully denied the allegations. “Print it, all spurious, I’ll observe you in court docket – bring your checkbook,” he told the journal. The Atlantic has stated it stands by its allegations.

On Tuesday, Patel moreover denied in my idea ordering polygraph assessments to seek out out leaks to the press. This comes after the FBI stated remaining year that it begun the course of of utilizing polygraph assessments to reduction investigations aimed at figuring out the source of leaks emanating from interior the legislation enforcement agency.

He moreover stated that no FBI property maintain been dilapidated to study the harmful press about him or his handling of the agency, while answering questions from Patty Murray, the Democratic vice-chair of the Senate appropriations committee.

“I am deeply inquisitive in regards to the experiences that your leadership has now not been serious,” Murray stated, while repeating allegations of Patel’s habits on the job. “Your job is to be reachable … whilst you ought to chase out liquor or pop bottles in a locker room, follow podcasting. Leave legislation and uncover to of us that if fact be told discontinue care about justice and appearances.”

Earlier this year, Patel faced criticism after a ProPublica reporter shared a video the FBI director chugging a bottle and spraying beer in a locker room with the men’s USA hockey team in Milan, following their gold medal victory in opposition to Canada at the Chilly climate Olympics.