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Disputes over the policies, conduct, and oversight of law enforcement agencies.
Counts show individual statements. They do not assign an overall position.
2 statements on this page. Dates: September 14, 2026 to September 15, 2026
2 matching statements. Dates: September 14, 2026 to September 15, 2026
2 published statements. Dates: September 14, 2026 to September 15, 2026
2 published statements. Dates: September 14, 2026 to September 15, 2026
2 statements on this page. Dates: September 14, 2026 to September 15, 2026
Role at the time: U.S. Senator (D-IL); Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee
Response to this claim
The FBI’s hiring-standards change removes automatic disqualification for applicants who themselves engaged in the disqualifying conduct, not only for victims of it, contrary to Patel’s "victims" framing.
“You dropped automatic disqualification for applicants who have been engaged in bestiality, not victims of bestiality – applicants who have engaged.”
Clearest account of the Durbin/Patel disagreement over whether the "victims" framing accurately describes the policy, and the fullest quoted FBI spokesperson statement.
Durbin directly rejects Patel’s characterization of the policy on its face, stating the rule removes disqualification for people who "have engaged" in the conduct, not only victims, an express criticism of both the policy and Patel’s defense of it.
Role at the time: U.S. Senator (D-IL); Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, writing on behalf of nine Democratic co-signers
Statement summary
Ten Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, led by Sen. Dick Durbin, sent a letter to Patel calling the FBI’s hiring-standards changes "not minor technical adjustments" and demanding records.
“Not minor technical adjustments.”
Official letter from ten Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats (led by Durbin) to Patel, calling the hiring-standards changes "not minor technical adjustments" and requesting records and data by September 28, 2026.
The letter directly denounces the changes as "not minor technical adjustments" and demands accountability — an express institutional criticism, distinct in date and mode from Durbin’s hearing-testimony rebuttal the next day.
