Kelly defends Patel: "He's protecting those who are victims"
Host, The Megyn Kelly Show
“He's protecting those who are victims. They just turned it upside down.”
Source and context
Analysis
About this source
Megyn Kelly's AM Update segment covering Kash Patel's September 15, 2026 Senate hearing on the FBI hiring-standards change.
Before the quotation
Covering Kash Patel's September 15, 2026 Senate hearing on her AM Update segment.
After the quotation
The segment went on to play the Kennedy-style exchange about involuntary participation without Kelly undercutting Patel's framing.
How this statement is classified
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?
Kelly explicitly frames the hiring-policy change as protecting trafficking victims and accuses critics of inverting the story, a direct defense of Patel's testimony and the underlying policy.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Kash Patel

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“unbelievable... just how far the FBI has fallen under the direction and leadership”Read statement
“You know things have gone off the rails when someone has to ask, what about the bestiality? … We are witnessing history here. This may be the first time ever someone's response to "what's up with the bestiality" is "thank you for bringing that up." … Like, these are the standards you're lowering? Maybe the new standard should be only needs to do 20 push-ups and not can't go to a petting zoo wearing gym shorts.”Read statement
“How bad is our recruitment that those were the standards we had to lower?”Read statement