Cory Booker Explodes After Kash Patel Dodges Yes-or-No Questions Under Oath - Liberal Lens [View all]

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In this heated exchange, Cory Booker confronts Kash Patel over credibility, truthfulness, and the future of the FBI itself.

Booker presses Patel on whether he discussed removing FBI personnel with the White House before his confirmation, and whether he testified before a grand jury that Donald Trump declassified the documents at the center of the Mar-a-Lago case. Patel repeatedly refuses to give clear yes-or-no answers — even though, under federal rules, a grand jury witness is allowed to disclose their own testimony.

The questioning then turns to firings inside the FBI, including the termination of veteran agents with decades of experience, and allegations that personnel decisions are being driven by political loyalty rather than professional conduct. Booker warns that reassigning agents away from counterintelligence, public corruption, and crimes against children risks hollowing out the Bureau’s institutional knowledge.

Patel responds by citing arrest and seizure statistics, but Booker’s concern is structural: whether short-term numbers can justify long-term damage to an agency meant to operate independently of politics.

This moment isn’t just about a tense hearing. It’s about whether the nation’s premier law-enforcement agency can remain credible, neutral, and trusted — or whether political pressure is reshaping it from the inside.

Watch closely. Oversight hearings exist for moments exactly like this.