Kash Patel Tells Congress He Rejects Trump Admin’s Proposed Budget Cuts For The FBI

FBI Director Kash Patel distanced himself from the Trump administration’s proposed budget for his agency while testifying in a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.

Patel was questioned at one point by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee. “In the budget department, but this is your budget. This is your budget. You have to have some idea of what you want to fund or not fund or where you think you can cut or not cut and provide that information to OMB. I’m unclear, and it seems to me that you are, as to what should be the budget of this agency,” DeLauro said, adding:

And if it’s, you know, half billion dollars lower, what are the positions that you believe will have to be cut in order to reach the mandate that you are bringing forward to us in terms of your budget.

“Well, that’s exactly what I’m saying. That’s the proposed budget, not by the FBI. The proposed budget that I put forward is to cover us for $11.1 billion, which would not have us cut any positions. The proposed–” Patel replied as DeLauro cut in.

“So the skinny budget is, is– we don’t have, the skinny budget is wrong?” DeLauro pressed.

“The skinny budget is a proposal and I’m working through the appropriations process to explain why we need more than what has been proposed,” Patel made clear.

Trump has long been a critic of the FBI, accusing its past leaders of “weaponizing” the agency against him. Many observers and critics long believed that Trump would work to reduce the agency in a second term, a notion Patel worked to dispel.

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.