Video from a statement by Peter Welch
Sen. Amy Klobuchar's and Sen. Peter Welch's questions to FBI Director Kash Patel about FBI agents and polling places, at the Senate Judiciary Committee's Sept. 15, 2026 FBI oversight hearing.
Two excerpts joined by a one-second black gap: 1:56:46 to 1:58:09 and 2:40:47 to 2:43:53 of the committee's archived hearing video. DI added its logo in the corner.
Video: U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Public domain (U.S. government work) (opens in a new tab)
Welch read John James’s account of his conversation with Patel into the record and asked whether it was true. When Patel answered that election crimes coordinators in all 56 field offices would be manning their posts, Welch said that contradicted the answer Patel had given Blumenthal minutes earlier, and pressed him on whether agents were being sent to 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.”