Brandon Tatum
Role at the time: Former police officer; conservative commentator
Defended or excused
Statement summary
Commentator Brandon Tatum defended Kash Patel's testimony on the FBI hiring-standards change, saying the policy protects trafficking and abuse victims and dismissing Democratic senators' criticism as an attempt to use an inflammatory word to make Patel look bad.
“It's people who were victims, people who were forced into this stuff... they should not be disqualified for serving if they're qualified in all other areas... they knew the word bestiality was going to trigger people... they want to make him look bad.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)The Officer Tatum: "Kash Patel WIPES THE FLOOR With Dems in VIRAL Senate Hearing"
Why we used this label
Tatum explicitly defends Patel's rationale that the policy protects trafficking/abuse victims and dismisses Democratic senators' criticism as bad-faith theater, a direct defense of the policy change.