PETA president Ingrid Newkirk: policy is an 'abominable misstep'
Ingrid NewkirkCo-founder and president, PETA
PETA president Ingrid Newkirk condemned the FBI hiring-standards change and called on Patel to reverse it.
“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.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Kash Patel defends FBI’s removal of automatic hiring disqualifiers for bestiality, prostitution, and employee theft
The FBI changed its hiring standards in 2026 to remove automatic disqualification of job applicants over past prostitution, employee theft, or bestiality/animal-cruelty history, first reported by CBS News on August 28, 2026. At a September 15, 2026 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel defended the change as intended to protect trafficking and abuse victims from disqualification, saying "we did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked." Sen. Dick Durbin disputed that framing, saying the rule as written removes disqualification for "applicants who have engaged" in the conduct, not specifically victims. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe publicly called Patel’s rationale "not entirely believable."
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
The New Republic report citing PETA president Ingrid Newkirk’s statement, originally obtained and published by MeidasTouch.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)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
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
More from this case
Read the full caseFBI National Press Office: applicants who engaged in criminal sexual acts remain ineligible
Federal Bureau of Investigation
“We are not 'relaxing hiring standards' - that is totally false... any applicant who has engaged in criminal sexual acts like those referenced would of course not be eligible for employment, and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise.”Read statement
Maureen Steele accepts the trafficking-victim rationale but says the FBI wrote it too broadly: "Victims deserve mercy. Federal power demands character."
“Victims deserve mercy. Federal power demands character.”Read statement
Wallace calls Patel's testimony "unbelievable," evidence of institutional decline
“unbelievable... just how far the FBI has fallen under the direction and leadership”Read statement
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- PETA president Ingrid Newkirk: policy is an 'abominable misstep'
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The Dispute Index. "PETA president Ingrid Newkirk: policy is an 'abominable misstep'". First published: 2026-09-16. Last updated: 2026-09-16. https://disputeindex.com/events/778-peta-president-ingrid-newkirk-condemned-the-fbi-hiring