Former FBI Deputy Director (21 years at the bureau); CNN senior law enforcement analyst.
Case
FBI Director Kash Patel defended the bureau's removal of automatic hiring disqualifiers for prostitution, employee theft, and bestiality, saying it protects trafficking victims. Sen. Dick Durbin and former FBI official Andrew McCabe publicly disputed that framing.
Role at the time: Former FBI Deputy Director; CNN senior law enforcement analyst
Statement summary
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said on CNN that Patel’s victim-protection rationale for the hiring-standards change was not credible.
“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.”
McCabe directly denounces Patel’s rationale as not credible and the episode as "unconscionable," an express criticism of Patel’s defense of the policy.
Statement dates: September 15, 2026
