Patel CRACKS during CROSS-EXAMINATION over SCANDALS!!!

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]embattled, belleaguered, accused of public and excessive drinking. FBI director Cash Patel is back in the news again in the last 12 hours because he did exceedingly poorly as as is MO in a Senate hearing today when he was grilled about his excessive drinking and out came a unhinged word salad.

[00:00:29]virtually incoherent where he tried to do battle, of course, was outmatched. He's a lightweight. He's punching a heavyweight in Senator Van Holland. And then my one of my favorite parts is when he then decides he's going to go after an innocent person who has never been convicted of a crime here or in uh Venezuela or El Salvador. Kilmer Abbrego Garcia who's fighting for his freedom in two separate courts says, "Well, at least I didn't have margaritas with a convicted gangbanging rapist." I I don't even know what that means, but he's never been convicted of rape, of quote unquote gang banging, or of any other crime. But leave it to the FBI director to bespert bismerch the character of somebody else as he finds himself in hot water all over again. Can we unpack the sorted world of Cash Patel as it exists the middle of this week?

[00:01:32]I'm going to do it for you here on Legal AF to kick off our Wednesday. All right, Cash Patel. Look, there's been ample reporting and leaks from inside the White House that a combination of Susie Wilds and Donald Trump, maybe including Todd Blanch, want to see him go. The knives are out for Cash Patel. There were serious discussions according to reporting in November and in December of 2025 to give him the old heave ho and he knows it. Which then leads us to the Atlantic magazine reporting that Cash Patel according to sources and they had two dozen anonymous sources. Yes. But sources nonetheless, I mean the they're not anonymous to the reporter who said he's prone.

[00:02:26]pardon me, who says he's prone to excessive drinking.

[00:02:33]Sometimes they can't find him. He doesn't run meetings. They run him.

[00:02:38]Sometimes they think about breaking down doors to go find him. And named bars and taverns and cocktail lounges that he frequents.

[00:02:48]And so he decided, "Oh, I better get a I better get ahead of that story. I'm going to litigate whether I'm a public drunk." You see where this is going? I'm going to file a defamation case for $250 million. Unfortunately for him, it got assigned to EMTT Sullivan, who is a tremendously independent maverick of a judge and I'm sure is going to give his complaint a hard look against Sarah Fitzpatrick, the writer for The Atlantic and The Atlantic. And the Atlantic's unstoppable. They've already written subsequent stories about him handing out customized bourbon bottles with his brand. You know, we have an FBI director who has a monetization, a NIL, a name in uh a name, image, and likeness um uh brand. It's cash with a dollar sign. Just what you want for an FBI director telling the world that he's for sale to the highest bidder. So, he's handing out bourbon bottles with his cash dollar sign thing on it and The Atlantic reporting on it. They're not scared. Uh, you could put as many zeros as you want in a in a lawsuit. Doesn't give it any more credibility. So, that then we have the reporting that's come out. Again, this is all like in the last two weeks, but I'm packing it all together here.

[00:04:08]He goes after the Atlantic and Sarah Fitzpatrick defamation. There's also reporting that he's using the FBI to go after Sarah Fitzpatrick herself.

[00:04:18]There's also reporting, not I'm not a broken record, that he's going after the New York Times reporter who did a story about his his girlfriend and wannabe country star and political commentator and all of the taxpayer dollars he's wasting squiring her around and trying to uh you know try to whatever, including in private jets with locked bedroom doors. Well, he didn't like that story, so he sent the FBI after the um the New York Times. And now you got Todd Blanch, who's our acting acting attorney general, who says, "I'm going to use subpoenas to get to the bottom of leaks of confidential information." We're going to have a battle royale over the First Amendment, freedom of the press, and the power of the fourth estate, the fourth branch of government, the press, very, very soon. It's bubbling up now through the district courts. It's going to end up at the United States Supreme Court before it's all over. Which brings us to Cash Patel today with Van Holland.

[00:05:18]Now, Van Holland is the Maryland senator. And yes, he did visit Kilmer Abbrego Garcia, the guy who was illegally Supreme Court's terms, sent to El Salvador's uh torture prison, tortured upon arrival in Secott, and then was only brought back after a series of Supreme Court decisions unanimously against the government. When they brought him back, they brought him back to Tennessee to stand for an indictment that is I don't know in the next week or two go hopefully going to be dismissed for vindictive prosecution by Dud Judge Krenshaw in Tennessee while he fights to be if he's going to be deported and removed from the country to be uh to be sent to a someplace off the coast of the United States and not to Cameroon or wherever else they want to send him. So, while all that's going on, you've got um Van Holland, who did visit Abrego Garcia, asking hard questions about this guy's excessive drinking, Cash Patel. He loses his We have a We have a legal term for it. He loses his Play the clip. So, you agree, Director Patel, that if one of your agents was unable to perform his or her duties because of excessive drinking, you would need to take corrective or disciplinary action.

[00:06:40]You agree with that statement? We would implement the inspection review process just like these other agencies have their own internal investigations and complete that review.

[00:06:48]>> As I said in my opening remarks, I I really don't care about your personal life so long as you are able to perform your public and official responsibilities, which are awesome responsibilities.

[00:07:03]Multiple reports, including reporting by The Atlantic, have alleged episodes of excessive drinking, unexplained absences, and behavior that concern current and former FBI and DOJ officials. You have publicly denied those allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit. So today, as you testify before Congress, is it your testimony that those allegations are categorically false?

[00:07:27]>> Unequivocally categorically false. So there have been no occasions during your tenure when FBI personnel were unable to promptly reach you?

[00:07:35]>> Absolutely not. You can ask my entire workforce. They hear from me at every single hour of the day, as do these great gentlemen here, as do the men and women of the inter agency and state and local law enforcement and the White House.

[00:07:45]>> And so there have been no occasions when your security detail had difficulty waking or locating you. Is that right?

[00:07:51]>> Nope. It's a total force. I don't even know where you get this stuff, but it doesn't make it credible because you say so.

[00:07:56]>> I'm not saying it, Director Patel. I I it's been written and documented. I >> You are literally saying it.

[00:08:02]>> No, I'm saying that these are reports.

[00:08:03]Uh, Director Patel, >> unlike Unlike baseless reports, the only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gangbanging rapist was you.

[00:08:14]The only person that ran up a $7,000 bar tab in Washington DC at the lobby was you. the only individual in this room on taxpayer dime during the day.

[00:08:27]Director Patel, come on. These are serious allegations that were made against you. They're lawsuit that you filed.

[00:08:34]>> You drinking margaritas with a gang through on video. Just goes to show you running a $7,000 bar tab at the lobby bar has been filed by your own office.

[00:08:43]Goes to show you during the day. That's you. This is the ultimate example of hypocrisy. I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations, fraudulent statements from the media.

[00:08:53]>> The fact that you mention that indicates you don't know what you are talking about. Now, here directly.

[00:09:00]>> The only thing I know is you're the one drinking margaritas with film.

[00:09:02]>> Actually, that's a false statement and I'm asking you about your statement >> and if you like that, you're going to love this one. Watch this one. I look forward to hearing about the various budget requests, but we should acknowledge that we are not gathered here at this hearing at a normal time because what we are learning about what's happening at the FBI is anything but normal. Director Patel, as you ask for more taxpayer resources, we cannot look away from the credible, extremely troubling reports about your misconduct at the FBI. All four of you hold positions of great public trust.

[00:09:43]The American people trust that each of you will responsibly exercise your powers to protect them. You're expected to be on call night and day, able to make quick decisions to guard our nation's security. You must always be prepared to answer that call, whether it comes at 300 p.m. or 300 a.m. That is your duty. Director Patel, I don't care one bit about your private life, and I don't give a damn about what you do on your own time and your own dime unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities.

[00:10:18]Being the director of the FBI is an awesome responsibility. And when your private actions make it impossible for you to perform your public duties, we have a big problem. You cannot perform those public duties if you're incapacitated.

[00:10:33]And Director Patel, these reports about your conduct, including reports of your being so drunk and hung over that your staff had to force entry into your home, are extremely alarming. If true, they demonstrate a gross dereliction of your duty and a betrayal of public trust. I cannot imagine ever having to worry about former FBI directors Rey or Mueller spending multiple weekends drinking heavily at the Poodle Room in Las Vegas. Now, I understand that you've denied these reports, and you will have a chance today here to challenge them.

[00:11:09]Now, why does he go out of his way to go after Kilmer Abbrego Garcia, who's the poster child for being tortured by the United States government? Let me clear up a couple of things. Kilmergo Garcia is married to an American citizen, a woman in Maryland. They have a couple of kids who are US citizens. He was here on an order of non removal to El Salvador and working and not committing any crimes. He committed no crimes in his home country. He was never convicted of any crimes.

[00:11:42]Somewhere along the way, he's driving a bunch of guys and a teenager in a car in Tennessee. He gets stopped.

[00:11:52]They take a look to this to figure out whether it's uh it's uh human smuggling.

[00:11:57]They're driving illegals around. He wasn't even given a ticket for a broken tail light. He was let go. Trump restarts with his Department of Justice the investigation. And lo and behold, they indict him for for smuggling because one of the passengers was 16 or 17. It became in Pam Bondi's mind and in every press conference, he's smuggling.

[00:12:19]He's smuggling children. It's child abuse. And from child abuse, we went to rape. What rape and convicted of rape?

[00:12:29]All lies. But this administration, the tone is set from the top. The lies are set from the top. So of course, Cash Patel is not going to tell the truth when pressured.

[00:12:41]Nobody in America thinks he did a good job at this Senate confirm the Senate hearing or that he's longed for this planet or longed to be the FBI director.

[00:12:52]There's already his number two who is a former attorney general from Missouri, Andrew Bailey, is likely to be the next FBI director. You watch, right?

[00:13:05]We were right about, you know, the the podcasters, Dan Bonino, who was the former number two, who's in it, who went back to being a podcaster, and we're going to be right about this. Patel's going to be out. I'm surprised he hung around this long, but with between his defamation cases, his abuse of power at the FBI against media outlets, and his performance here, this is not going to bode well. Donald Trump, it's one thing he doesn't like or tolerate. It's losers. And nothing sell says or smells like a loser more than Cash Patel. I'm Michael Popac. I got a full day of programming for you. I'm rejuvenated.

[00:13:44]Not that I needed rejuvenating, but I'm rejuvenated on returning from the Webbby Awards. We swept them. I don't have one though because I have to order it. But when they come in, I'm going to show you a picture. And I have a picture of my wife and I at the event, which we'll put up on social media. Hit the free subscribe button. Come on, get us to 1.2 million before May is over. Come over to Legal AF Substack. Help us get to 10,000 uh paid subscribers. I'm running a 40% off sale right now for you over there in order to accomplish that. It's on my next report. I'm Michael Popock. Can't get your fill of legal AF? Me neither.

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