Dick Durbin: the policy drops disqualification for "applicants who have engaged," not victims
U.S. Senator (D-IL); Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee
“You dropped automatic disqualification for applicants who have been engaged in bestiality, not victims of bestiality – applicants who have engaged.”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Clearest account of the Durbin/Patel disagreement over whether the "victims" framing accurately describes the policy, and the fullest quoted FBI spokesperson statement.
Reporting
About this source
Same-day broadcast transcript containing verbatim video-clip transcriptions of the hearing exchange plus a full on-air interview with Andrew McCabe. Marked by CNN as a rush transcript that "may not be in its final form."
Before the quotation
Questioning Patel at the September 15, 2026 hearing about the FBI’s hiring-standards change.
After the quotation
Patel responded by asserting that applicants who engaged in bestiality were themselves victims "because they were forced to do so," a claim Durbin’s framing rejects.
How this statement is classified
Responding to: The FBI’s hiring-standards change removes automatic disqualification for applicants who themselves engaged in the disqualifying conduct, not only for victims of it, contrary to Patel’s "victims" framing.
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
Durbin directly rejects Patel’s characterization of the policy on its face, stating the rule removes disqualification for people who "have engaged" in the conduct, not only victims, an express criticism of both the policy and Patel’s defense of it.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Kash Patel, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Kash Patel defends FBI’s removal of automatic hiring disqualifiers for bestiality, prostitution, and employee theft
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“In 21 years in the FBI, this issue never came up... the fact that the director is using this as a way to kind of soften the blow... is not entirely believable in my estimation. The idea that the FBI director would put his own credibility and judgment on the line over something as esoteric and irrelevant as protecting victims of bestiality who might happen to want to work for the FBI is really unconscionable to me.”Read statement
“Why would you even get into bestiality?... So you disqualified the animal?... But you’re not telling us today that if a human being had sex with an animal, they can still be an FBI agent?”Read statement
“We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked... Applicants who have engaged in bestiality means they were victims of bestiality because they were forced to do so.”Read statement