PETA president Ingrid Newkirk: policy is an 'abominable misstep'
Co-founder and president, PETA
“Director Patel must immediately cancel this abominable misstep. It cannot happen... No one in America supports humans having sex with animals, and to think an FBI agent might be such a cruel pervert is unconscionable and unacceptable.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)The New Republic on PETA condemnation of FBI hiring policy
Source and context
Reporting
The New Republic on PETA condemnation of FBI hiring policy (opens in a new tab)
About this source
The New Republic report citing PETA president Ingrid Newkirks statement, originally obtained and published by MeidasTouch.
Before the quotation
Given to MeidasTouch and published September 16, 2026.
After the quotation
The statement was first obtained and published by MeidasTouch before being picked up by The New Republic.
How this statement is classified
Condemned
Case context: Kash Patel defends FBI’s removal of automatic hiring disqualifiers for bestiality, prostitution, and employee theft
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
Newkirk directly and sharply condemns the policy and calls for Patel to reverse it, an express institutional condemnation on PETAs behalf.
- 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
“You dropped automatic disqualification for applicants who have been engaged in bestiality, not victims of bestiality – applicants who have engaged.”Read statement