Blumenthal says he is "dissatisfied" by Patel's non-answer on FBI at polling places
Richard BlumenthalU.S. Senator (D-CT)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal pressed Kash Patel on whether it would be illegal to send FBI agents to polling places; after Patel said "I don't know that we can't legally do it," Blumenthal said he was "dissatisfied" that Patel could not give an "unequivocal" commitment to keep the FBI out of election interference.
“Well, I'm dissatisfied that you are unable to give us an unequivocal, clear, unambiguous commitment that the FBI will be kept out of election interference.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Patel questioned on FBI presence at Michigan polling places after John James claim
Michigan gubernatorial candidate John James said Kash Patel privately told him the FBI would have a presence in Michigan before the 2026 midterm elections. At a September 15, 2026 Senate hearing, Sen. Peter Welch asked Patel whether that was true. Patel did not directly confirm or deny it, instead describing standing FBI "election crimes community coordinators" in each field office, and separately declined to pledge that the FBI would not interfere with the elections when pressed further.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Confirms the Welch/James exchange and Patel’s reply, plus the related Blumenthal exchange.
Before the quotation
Questioning Patel at the September 15, 2026 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about whether the FBI could lawfully send agents to polling places, roughly twenty minutes before Sen. Peter Welch put John James's Michigan claim to him. Blumenthal had asked for a commitment that agents would not be deployed on or around Election Day, and Patel answered that the FBI would follow the law and that he did not know it could not legally do it.
After the quotation
Welch later cited this exchange back to Patel, telling him "When you answered Mr. Blumenthal," when Patel's account of FBI presence appeared to shift. No FBI policy change or clarification followed.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Blumenthal directly condemns Patel's non-answer on whether the FBI could legally send agents to polling places, explicitly saying he was 'dissatisfied' by the lack of an unequivocal commitment -- a condemnation of Patel's response relevant to the case's central question.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Kash Patel
Corrections to this statement
These notices document reporting corrections, classification changes, and topic-label updates.
Reporting correction
Correction to: Statement by Richard Blumenthal
- Previous language
- I don't know that we can't legally do it.... dissatisfied that you are unable to give us an unequivocal, clear, unambiguous commitment that the FBI will be kept out of election interference.
- Corrected language
- Well, I'm dissatisfied that you are unable to give us an unequivocal, clear, unambiguous commitment that the FBI will be kept out of election interference.
The recorded quotation attributed two sentences to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, but the first was spoken by FBI Director Kash Patel. At the September 15, 2026 Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Blumenthal asked whether deploying FBI agents to the polls on Election Day would be contrary to law, and Patel answered “I don’t know that we can’t legally do it.” Only the second sentence is Blumenthal’s, and its opening words were also dropped. The record’s neutral summary already attributed the line correctly to Patel; the quotation field did not, so the page read as though Blumenthal had said both. Checked against the committee’s own recording of the hearing and corroborated by ABC News, Democracy Docket and Government Executive, which all attribute the sentence to Patel.
This corrects our account of what happened.
Official U.S. Senate video archive of the September 15, 2026 Senate Judiciary Committee "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" hearing. This single video covers both this case and the related FBI hiring-standards case.
More from this case
Read the full caseKrishnamoorthi says Patel's ambiguity on agents at the polls is "difficult to reconcile with federal law"
“This ambiguity is difficult to reconcile with federal law. Since 1948, 18 U.S.C. § 592 has made it a felony for any officer "in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States" to order, bring, or keep "armed men" at any place where a general election is held, absent the need to repel armed enemies of the United States. The penalty includes up to five years' imprisonment and disqualification from federal office. The Department's own manual on the Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses has long construed that provision to reach armed federal agents, not merely military personnel. Director Patel's stated uncertainty about whether the Bureau may lawfully send agents to the polls is therefore not a close legal question. It is a question the Department answered decades ago, in its own published guidance.”Read statement
Amy Klobuchar says federal law and Justice Department guidance bar agents from polling places
“Are you aware of the Justice Department’s longstanding guidance that states that FBI agents cannot conduct investigations inside polling places on election day and that federal prosecutors have no authority to send FBI special agents or deploy US marshals to polling places?” … “And so will you commit to following clear federal law and DOJ policy and not deploy federal agents to polling places?”Read statement
Peter Welch says Patel has just contradicted his own answer on agents at the polls
“Wait, I thought you weren’t going to be sending people to the polls.” … “So you are sending FBI agents to the polls.” … “This is existential. You told Mr. Blumenthal you weren’t sending FBI agents to election sites.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Blumenthal says he is "dissatisfied" by Patel's non-answer on FBI at polling places". First published: 2026-09-17. Last updated: 2026-09-17. https://disputeindex.com/events/865-sen-richard-blumenthal-pressed-kash-patel-on-whether