Presented by SourceAmerica {beacon} It’s Tuesday, and it's Sen. Mitch McConnell's first full day back in 92 days. In today's issue: Patel questioned Supreme Court angers Trump Texas students respond to Republican Macklemore dropped from tour Programming note: We're Joshua Feldstein and Claire Leibowitz, filling in for Cate today.
Page A10From§Eachthe matinee edition — 15 September 2026
FBI director defends lifted hiring ban on bestiality offenders, closes hearing announcing completed most-wanted sweep
“They lowered the bar to hire people with records of theft and prostitution, then told a Senate committee they caught a guy in Venezuela so nobody would ask who's filling the other seats. That's not law enforcement, that's a magic trick — watch the trophy, don't watch the roster. Somebody's getting hired this year who couldn't clear your dry cleaner's background check, and he's carrying a badge and your case file.”
“Look, every FBI director has personal travel, that's not the story — the story is standards, and these are expanded standards, full stop. ...Okay, fine, they're lowered, they had to lower them, the bureau lost the workforce, that's just — that's just math. But it's strategic math, and paired with a 65 percent jump in extraditions and a completed Most Wanted sweep, I'd call that a bureau that's — look, hiring is hiring, can we get back to Comey's travel?”
The receipts
The DOJ disbanded its crypto enforcement team in April 2025 and ordered inconsistent investigations closed - while the president's family runs a crypto business CNBC, 8 April 2025 (Blanche memo)
Kash Patel reveals FBI's capture of all 10 members of Most Wanted fugitive's list during hearingKash Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee the FBI captured a fugitive in Venezuela tied to Tren de Aragua, completing a historic clean sweep.
FBI Director Kash Patel pushed back against questions about his personal travel on Tuesday by contrasting it with that of his predecessors James Comey and Christopher Wray, as Senate Democrats pressed him for answers during a heated oversight hearing about taxpayer-funded trips and leisure activities. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) questioned…
FBI Director Kash Patel and Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont got into a heated argument over U.S. election conspiracies and the FBI's role at polling sites for the upcoming midterms during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
FBI Director Kash Patel testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, where GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana pushed Patel on the bureau's hiring changes. CBS News' Jake Rosen has more.
Their relationship has been heavily scrutinized since Patel took charge of the bureau in February 2025.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) pressed FBI Director Kash Patel multiple times on why the bureau lifted its hiring ban on people who previously engaged in bestiality. The reason Patel provided was that in some cases, FBI applicants were forced into having sex with animals when they were younger.
FBI Director Kash Patel was grilled for nearly five hours by both Democrats and Republicans about a string of recent negative headlines about the FBI.
During a Senate committee hearing, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin criticized the FBI's response to shootings involving an ICE officer and a Border Patrol agent.
Attorney General Todd Blanche is set to brief reporters in the Rose Garden on Tuesday, becoming the latest administration official to step in since the departure of former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. It's an unusual venue for a briefing. A judge once again ruled the Kennedy Center could not inscribe President Trump's…
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker got into a heated back-and-forth with FBI Director Kash Patel during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday that prompted committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley to chide the New Jersey senator.
· FBI revises hiring standards regarding prostitution, stealing from employer from the morgue, 30 Aug 2026
· Kash Patel to testify before Congress next week from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· EXCLUSIVE: FBI extraditions soar as Patel ramps up foreign outreach, vows 'no sanctuary' from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.