Sept. 15, 2026
FBI Director Kash Petal Tells Senator: “We Are Not Into Bestiality”
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RSS Feed It had to be one of the strangest exchanges ever witnessed at a Senate Judiciary hearing. FBI Director Kash Patel began explaining recent changes to hiring practices when he was asked about lifting restrictions on applicants who engaged in prostitution and bestiality. That exchange led to an even more uncomfortable and at times comical Q & A between Patel and Senator John Kennedy.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there folks, it is Tuesday, September 15th, and we don't start an episode often by saying this.
00:00:09
Speaker 2: You have got to hear this.
00:00:14
Speaker 1: There is a recording that we are going to play of you of an exchange that happened at the U.S. Senate today that you have to hear to believe. And with that, welcome to this bestiality Episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: You didn't like that, did you?
00:00:30
Speaker 3: It doesn't sound right.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: It doesn't sound right. Okay, we just learned that, actually. I didn't know, baby.
00:00:35
Speaker 3: Well, look, I don't often say, thankfully, nor do I hear people often refer to bestiality, but it's always referred to as bestiality. So when we had to carefully... researched this story and will explain why. We had no idea it's actually spelled bestiality. And then when you looked it up in the Merriam-Webster's dictionary to hear how to pronounce it, they said bestiality. But that sounded British almost. I mean, we say bestiality.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: I thought it was spelled that way.
00:01:07
Speaker 4: So did I.
00:01:08
Speaker 2: Okay. Well, okay. We're all learning something.
00:01:10
Speaker 1: Even this exchange is bizarre to be having today. This was a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. They have oversight over the FBI. So Kash Patel was there to testify. You know what's going to happen. We just automatically know, Robes, it's not going to go well. There are going to be clashes that are going to be headlined on cable news all night long. But a very surprising exchange happened, Robes. And yes, bestiality... Stop saying that.
00:01:39
Speaker 2: In the middle of it. And when it was happening, I said, babe, you have got to hear.
00:01:44
Speaker 1: Actually, you screamed into the bathroom because I was laughing, playing as I was showering.
00:01:50
Speaker 4: Oh, yes.
00:01:51
Speaker 3: Well, first I heard you laughing and then I walked into the room right when Senator Kennedy asked about someone having sex with a pig. And I said, I'm sorry, what did I just hear? I actually thought that I misheard it in some way. Like, there's no way I just heard a U.S. senator utter that phrase.
00:02:11
Speaker 1: This was a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing interviewing the FBI director. So why did this come up? This came up, and you have got to, folks, trust us on this one. Just stay, and you've got to hear this. But this all started because the FBI, it was being questioned by Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, about FBI standards for new recruits. And there used to be a standard that you're automatically disqualified if you, Robes, engage in two things.
00:02:45
Speaker 3: Prostitution and bestiality.
00:02:48
Speaker 2: Okay, it was in their rules that you have to list that?
00:02:51
Speaker 3: It was a lifetime ban.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: You just can't, it's a non-starter. is what they said.
00:02:56
Speaker 1: So Dick Durbin, take a listen to him now asking about the lowered standards. This is how this all got started.
00:03:06
Speaker 5: Memo issued this June, the FBI has lowered its hiring standards by dropping automatic disqualification for applicants who have stolen from fire employees, paid for sex, are engaged in bestiality. In July, you claim the FBI is, quote, losing too many qualified candidates to the rigors of requirements from yesteryear. Director Patel, do you believe those who have previously stolen from employers, solicited sex, are engaged in bestiality, are qualified candidates that the FBI is losing?
00:03:42
Speaker 4: Thank you for bringing this up so we can get to the truth of the matter. What we did was we did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked. We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you if you are a victim of these awful, heinous acts. They still have to go to the same rigorous standards and application process. And on your other note, regarding our standards, our standards have never been higher. We've just hired on 307 former law enforcement and military officers. We've just hired on 470 individuals who have advanced degrees, and we've just hired on 448 individuals who who are fluent in multiple foreign languages. So we have not changed the standards. We are not going to target victims and prevent them from serving in their capacity to serve this country who may be most motivated to serve our FBI workforce.
00:04:32
Speaker 5: He's no longer protecting those who have been charged with bestiality. He's protecting those who are victims. Just turned it upside down.
00:04:38
Speaker 6: No, you did.
00:04:40
Speaker 4: You actually did because you lied.
00:04:41
Speaker 5: No, I can just tell you what I'm reading to you is you dropped automatic disqualification for applicants who have been engaged in bestiality. not victims of bestiality, applicants who have engaged. Do you disagree with that?
00:04:54
Speaker 4: Applicants who have engaged in bestiality means they were victims of bestiality because they were forced to do so. And at this FBI, we are not going to criminalize and prevent victims from serving the United States of America and the premier law enforcement agency in the world. They did that before. I eliminated the bureaucracy that prevented these great Americans from serving or at least being considered from serving, and I'm going to continue to do that. Turn it.
00:05:18
Speaker 2: Okay, folks, that's not even the crazy clip.
00:05:22
Speaker 1: So, Ropes, before I get to Senator Kennedy from Louisiana, tell me what naturally your questions are in hearing that exchange.
00:05:33
Speaker 2: You go, what?
00:05:35
Speaker 3: So my first question was, who's the victim? Because my first thought is that the animal is the victim. So initially when he first said that, it looked not to take away anybody's Who may have been trafficked in any way, shape, or form, but when you hear it the way it was said.
00:05:51
Speaker 2: Presented, yes.
00:05:51
Speaker 3: In the exchange that it was included in, it sounded as though he was talking about the animals, because who else would be the victim?
00:05:59
Speaker 1: Okay, and frankly, this is not something, when we talk about human trafficking, something that we hear a lot about.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: I don't recall ever hearing about it.
00:06:09
Speaker 1: I'm told now, and looking up now, and hearing him now, that it is possible... That this has happened, that people are trafficked, and they are forced into awful acts with animals.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: Okay. Robes. There are so many of those people applying to the FBI that we need to change the rule is confusing.
00:06:38
Speaker 3: Right. So that would have been my next question. Just how many people does this... alleviate or what what what percentage of recruits or applicants are victims of bestiality that obviously it rose to a level that you all felt you needed to make.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: A change okay babe like.
00:06:59
Speaker 3: What what's happening this.
00:07:01
Speaker 1: Had to be a very specific case maybe or somebody they were trying Maybe it was.
00:07:05
Speaker 3: One person, which I would be more willing to say, oh, okay.
00:07:09
Speaker 6: Oh, okay, yes.
00:07:10
Speaker 3: But the way it was being presented, it was as if it was some major issue that so many people have suffered.
00:07:16
Speaker 2: That we're missing good people.
00:07:19
Speaker 3: Who could be serving because they've all been forced into bestiality. I was like, is this... Am I actually... Am I in a dream? Am I going to wake up? Is this actually happening in the halls of Congress? It was incredibly confusing, beyond bizarre, and I kept thinking that we were missing something.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: Okay, so everything we are talking about now, the next person to question Kash Patel was Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. If you have ever watched a hearing, he's just a straight shooter. Forget politics for a second. He really does. I think I've seen him question the left and the right, Republicans and Democrats, kind of the same. He kind of nails whatever you might be thinking, and he delivers it in that way. So by prefacing it with that, here is just an incredible exchange when he starts up next questioning Kash Patel.
00:08:21
Speaker 6: I've got a couple of questions here.
00:08:25
Speaker 2: Even that's funny, baby, the way he starts.
00:08:27
Speaker 3: He's uncomfortable.
00:08:28
Speaker 6: We have, and I'm really trying to understand, because I listened to the exchange between you and Senator Durbin, and I've read a few news accounts, and I'm confused. The FBI has qualifications to be an FBI agent. Is that correct?
00:08:53
Speaker 4: Yes, we've increased those qualifications and standards.
00:08:55
Speaker 6: Pull that mic closer to you.
00:08:56
Speaker 4: We've increased the standards and qualifications.
00:08:58
Speaker 6: Okay, but you have qualifications.
00:09:00
Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
00:09:01
Speaker 6: Now, you recently changed them. Is that right?
00:09:05
Speaker 4: Some of them.
00:09:06
Speaker 6: Some of them. And why did you do that?
00:09:09
Speaker 4: We changed the bureaucracy because when you first applied to the FBI, this is the most important example I can give, any position, special agent, intel analyst, support staff, you had to wait 100 days because of bureaucratic waste. before the FBI contacted you again. And what that meant was people who wanted to be employed by the FBI were finding jobs with other law enforcement agencies because they couldn't afford to wait around anymore.
00:09:32
Speaker 6: So you're going to do it quicker?
00:09:33
Speaker 4: Yep. Okay.
00:09:35
Speaker 6: But what about the actual substantive qualifications that have been reported? What changes did you make there?
00:09:45
Speaker 4: We require you to do a pull-up if you want to be an FBI agent.
00:09:47
Speaker 6: I understand. But you know what I'm getting at. I'm trying to understand this cash. Before the FBI made these changes, there were certain things. that disqualified you from being an FBI agent. Here it comes. And you, not you, but the agency said, we're no longer going to allow these things, this behavior, to disqualify you. What were the things you changed?
00:10:20
Speaker 4: Simply that if you were a victim of some of these vicious crimes and you wanted to serve this country, the FBI is now, for the first time ever, considering your application and not disqualifying you.
00:10:30
Speaker 6: Victim of what? Give me the example.
00:10:32
Speaker 4: Prostitution, bestiality, crimes like that, traffickers.
00:10:36
Speaker 6: So if you were... It's not if you frequented a prostitute. It's if you.
00:10:48
Speaker 6: Were a prostitute? Yes, the victim.
00:10:51
Speaker 4: Forced into it.
00:10:52
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:10:56
Speaker 1: Babe, he's genuinely shook.
00:10:59
Speaker 6: What about the bestiality?
00:11:02
Speaker 4: Same thing, because the regs wrote it up in a fashion before I arrived that addressed prostitution, bestiality, and trafficking. They were there before I got there.
00:11:11
Speaker 6: Tell me what it said before.
00:11:13
Speaker 4: It automatically disqualified any individual who participated on either side of it. Obviously, we are never going to hire the criminals.
00:11:22
Speaker 6: This side of what? The bestiality?
00:11:23
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:11:24
Speaker 6: So you disqualified the animals?
00:11:28
Speaker 4: Well, I don't think we have great canines, but we're not going to disqualify them.
00:11:32
Speaker 6: I understand.
00:11:32
Speaker 1: I'm trying to understand why you did this.
00:11:36
Speaker 6: This is not directed at you, Mr. Director. And I understand the game. people try to make you look bad. Uh, we do the same thing when, when the other parties in office and all of this stuff is really hurt the FBI. It's really hurt the FBI. So I'm trying to get to the bottom of this. Why would you, why would you in light of the, of the context, And what we're going through, and we're having a tough time attracting agents, good quality agents we all can trust, because so many people, fairly or unfairly, think that in order to be an FBI agent now, your political point of view matters. Why would you even get into bestiality?
00:12:35
Speaker 4: We are not into bestiality. A lot of these individuals... I know you're not, but you changed.
00:12:40
Speaker 6: But I'm trying to explain it.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: Hang on.
00:12:42
Speaker 6: You changed the qualifications and mentioned bestiality. If Joe participated in bestiality, not as the animal, but as the human, don't you think he ought to be disqualified? What does that mean?
00:12:58
Speaker 4: If he voluntarily did it, sure, but if he was trafficked into it.
00:13:01
Speaker 6: Okay, how do you involuntarily do it?
00:13:04
Speaker 4: In a lot of these cases, when human traffickers, who are some of the worst individuals on planet Earth, they don't just traffic you for prostitution, they traffic you for degrading acts of all kind, and they force you into that type of conduct. And some of these individuals would go on to be law enforcement officers who qualified to be law enforcement officers and later applied to the FBI.
00:13:23
Speaker 6: I mean, these changes didn't start with you, did they? Somebody came to you and recommended?
00:13:29
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:13:29
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:13:31
Speaker 6: And when you saw bestiality, I say this with respect. The person who recommended it, why didn't you just say, what planet did you parachute in from? Why do I want to leave with my chin and get into bestiality?
00:13:51
Speaker 4: That was my initial response, Senator. But they then explained to me and showed me cases in which people were forced into it and had applied to the FBI. And so I thought they should be considered. It's not an automatic disqualification.
00:14:03
Speaker 2: How many applicants, baby?
00:14:05
Speaker 6: All right, I think I understand. But you're not telling us today that if a human being had sex with an animal, that they can still be an FBI agent.
00:14:19
Speaker 3: No.
00:14:19
Speaker 6: Are you?
00:14:20
Speaker 3: No.
00:14:20
Speaker 6: They can't be, can they?
00:14:22
Speaker 4: They cannot.
00:14:23
Speaker 6: In fact, they ought to be in jail, right?
00:14:25
Speaker 3: They all are. That was amazing.
00:14:31
Speaker 6: All right.
00:14:31
Speaker 2: Stay here, folks.
00:14:32
Speaker 1: You'll get our full reaction to what you just heard.
00:14:35
Speaker 2: Stay here.
00:14:46
Speaker 3: Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. Did you ever think in your lifetime you would ever hear the director of the FBI testifying at a Senate hearing, we're not into bestiality? I mean, the fact that Cash Patel just said that, I mean, SNL.
00:15:04
Speaker 1: Has to do something with this.
00:15:06
Speaker 3: This has got to be what their opening is going to be next Saturday. They have to be taking furious notes after today's hearing.
00:15:15
Speaker 2: Robes, that was madness. What are we talking about? And you know what? God bless him. Senator Kennedy from Louisiana.
00:15:23
Speaker 3: I mean, he's a Republican talking to a Republican nominee.
00:15:26
Speaker 1: But babe, even when you see his posture in the video, he was genuinely like, okay, about this bestiality thing. Like he was having a real, very real moment.
00:15:37
Speaker 3: He was trying to help Kash Patel with the PR problem that has presented. And so you can see him like trying to get him to clarify it in a way that anyone who is as confused as maybe the rest of us are, why we could possibly understand why this would be a priority for the FBI to get new recruits. Because that's kind of how it's being packaged. Like, we need more people, so we went ahead and we let in the prostitutes and the folks who like... and, yeah, if you have a deviant sexual behavior, we don't mind.
00:16:13
Speaker 2: No, you had to be a victim, he said.
00:16:15
Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
00:16:15
Speaker 1: But, Ro, it is odd to think that you have to change the rule because we are losing so many good people because they were trafficked into bestiality.
00:16:26
Speaker 3: I mean, yes, we keep asking.
00:16:27
Speaker 2: No, I mean, seriously, baby, that sounds... Maybe we don't know.
00:16:31
Speaker 3: It sounds ridiculous is what it sounds like.
00:16:33
Speaker 2: I don't know, baby. They say it's a real thing, and it does sound... happen but how but.
00:16:39
Speaker 3: Okay so we've got a shortage so let's let's lift this restriction it's just a bizarre restriction to lift and because a how many people are we actually talking about b just the pr of it is bizarre and see i have a question look how do you prove you were a victim of it i don't know baby I didn't like it, I swear. I mean, I don't know. And how many people have been accused of this or are known to have... Do you have to volunteer the information and then... Or if you just keep it to yourself, it's like a don't ask, don't tell. Or is this a situation which these folks have been somehow prosecuted for it or there are pictures of them?
00:17:21
Speaker 2: They're victims of it, baby.
00:17:23
Speaker 3: But how is that documentable or provable?
00:17:26
Speaker 2: I didn't know this was a thing. It's so confusing. Baby, this is really odd. That you would, that this is a priority.
00:17:34
Speaker 3: Or a focus of any kind.
00:17:36
Speaker 1: And if they tell us it was like singular, like there was this one individual in particular and we needed this person and we needed to lift this, I would listen to that. That would make sense. But to tell me that the FBI is missing out on so many people because so many of them have bestiality on their records.
00:17:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, because I just would feel like it had to be something that was verifiable because That was preventing them from becoming an agent.
00:18:05
Speaker 1: But I think I give, again, Senator Kennedy credit for just being curious.
00:18:09
Speaker 2: He was curious today, babe.
00:18:11
Speaker 3: He was saying what everyone was thinking when they were listening to Kash Patel. Because also... Director Patel was just saying it so matter-of-factly, like he was saying something like, duh. Like he was just talking like, of course, like, how do you not know this?
00:18:26
Speaker 2: We're standing up for these people.
00:18:28
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:18:28
Speaker 1: We're not going to have an FBI that denies people just because they have bestiality on their resumes.
00:18:34
Speaker 3: He acted like he was a champion for victims' rights about a set of victims we weren't even aware existed or were trying to become FBI agents.
00:18:43
Speaker 2: I don't want to. We shouldn't.
00:18:45
Speaker 1: Downplay what I think is a real thing. People get trafficked into all kinds of things, but Robes, he's telling us the FBI is.
00:18:53
Speaker 2: Suffering because we don't let people in who've been victims of sexual crimes.
00:19:00
Speaker 3: And bestiality.
00:19:01
Speaker 2: In particular. Bestiality. And again, it's spelled B-E-S-T. I just found this out today.
00:19:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean... I was actually concerned about even, I had to put Kash Patel's name with it because I didn't want any other site to come up. I was very nervous.
00:19:18
Speaker 2: That is so funny you say that.
00:19:19
Speaker 1: And the way I did it, make sure I was on dictionary.com first and typed it into their website.
00:19:26
Speaker 3: That's so funny because now it's like the last thing you want on your search history of any kind. And then you said, do you know how to spell it? And I didn't. And then you and I were both proud of ourselves that neither one of us knew how to spell it, which... I don't know that I needed to prove anything, but I guess I just felt like that's how rare this is. None of us know how to say it or pronounce it. We know what it is. It's kind of like... not spoken about. And I don't know why it was the main focus of the Senate Judiciary hearing today.
00:19:59
Speaker 1: They did spend some time on it. A fascinating one today, folks. We appreciate you as always spending a little time with us.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: I'm T.J. Holmes on behalf of my dear Amy Robach. We'll talk to you all soon.
00:20:10
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Hey there folks, it is Tuesday, September 15th, and we don't start an episode often by saying this.
00:00:09
Speaker 2: You have got to hear this.
00:00:14
Speaker 1: There is a recording that we are going to play of you of an exchange that happened at the U.S. Senate today that you have to hear to believe. And with that, welcome to this bestiality Episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: You didn't like that, did you?
00:00:30
Speaker 3: It doesn't sound right.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: It doesn't sound right. Okay, we just learned that, actually. I didn't know, baby.
00:00:35
Speaker 3: Well, look, I don't often say, thankfully, nor do I hear people often refer to bestiality, but it's always referred to as bestiality. So when we had to carefully... researched this story and will explain why. We had no idea it's actually spelled bestiality. And then when you looked it up in the Merriam-Webster's dictionary to hear how to pronounce it, they said bestiality. But that sounded British almost. I mean, we say bestiality.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: I thought it was spelled that way.
00:01:07
Speaker 4: So did I.
00:01:08
Speaker 2: Okay. Well, okay. We're all learning something.
00:01:10
Speaker 1: Even this exchange is bizarre to be having today. This was a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. They have oversight over the FBI. So Kash Patel was there to testify. You know what's going to happen. We just automatically know, Robes, it's not going to go well. There are going to be clashes that are going to be headlined on cable news all night long. But a very surprising exchange happened, Robes. And yes, bestiality... Stop saying that.
00:01:39
Speaker 2: In the middle of it. And when it was happening, I said, babe, you have got to hear.
00:01:44
Speaker 1: Actually, you screamed into the bathroom because I was laughing, playing as I was showering.
00:01:50
Speaker 4: Oh, yes.
00:01:51
Speaker 3: Well, first I heard you laughing and then I walked into the room right when Senator Kennedy asked about someone having sex with a pig. And I said, I'm sorry, what did I just hear? I actually thought that I misheard it in some way. Like, there's no way I just heard a U.S. senator utter that phrase.
00:02:11
Speaker 1: This was a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing interviewing the FBI director. So why did this come up? This came up, and you have got to, folks, trust us on this one. Just stay, and you've got to hear this. But this all started because the FBI, it was being questioned by Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, about FBI standards for new recruits. And there used to be a standard that you're automatically disqualified if you, Robes, engage in two things.
00:02:45
Speaker 3: Prostitution and bestiality.
00:02:48
Speaker 2: Okay, it was in their rules that you have to list that?
00:02:51
Speaker 3: It was a lifetime ban.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: You just can't, it's a non-starter. is what they said.
00:02:56
Speaker 1: So Dick Durbin, take a listen to him now asking about the lowered standards. This is how this all got started.
00:03:06
Speaker 5: Memo issued this June, the FBI has lowered its hiring standards by dropping automatic disqualification for applicants who have stolen from fire employees, paid for sex, are engaged in bestiality. In July, you claim the FBI is, quote, losing too many qualified candidates to the rigors of requirements from yesteryear. Director Patel, do you believe those who have previously stolen from employers, solicited sex, are engaged in bestiality, are qualified candidates that the FBI is losing?
00:03:42
Speaker 4: Thank you for bringing this up so we can get to the truth of the matter. What we did was we did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked. We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you if you are a victim of these awful, heinous acts. They still have to go to the same rigorous standards and application process. And on your other note, regarding our standards, our standards have never been higher. We've just hired on 307 former law enforcement and military officers. We've just hired on 470 individuals who have advanced degrees, and we've just hired on 448 individuals who who are fluent in multiple foreign languages. So we have not changed the standards. We are not going to target victims and prevent them from serving in their capacity to serve this country who may be most motivated to serve our FBI workforce.
00:04:32
Speaker 5: He's no longer protecting those who have been charged with bestiality. He's protecting those who are victims. Just turned it upside down.
00:04:38
Speaker 6: No, you did.
00:04:40
Speaker 4: You actually did because you lied.
00:04:41
Speaker 5: No, I can just tell you what I'm reading to you is you dropped automatic disqualification for applicants who have been engaged in bestiality. not victims of bestiality, applicants who have engaged. Do you disagree with that?
00:04:54
Speaker 4: Applicants who have engaged in bestiality means they were victims of bestiality because they were forced to do so. And at this FBI, we are not going to criminalize and prevent victims from serving the United States of America and the premier law enforcement agency in the world. They did that before. I eliminated the bureaucracy that prevented these great Americans from serving or at least being considered from serving, and I'm going to continue to do that. Turn it.
00:05:18
Speaker 2: Okay, folks, that's not even the crazy clip.
00:05:22
Speaker 1: So, Ropes, before I get to Senator Kennedy from Louisiana, tell me what naturally your questions are in hearing that exchange.
00:05:33
Speaker 2: You go, what?
00:05:35
Speaker 3: So my first question was, who's the victim? Because my first thought is that the animal is the victim. So initially when he first said that, it looked not to take away anybody's Who may have been trafficked in any way, shape, or form, but when you hear it the way it was said.
00:05:51
Speaker 2: Presented, yes.
00:05:51
Speaker 3: In the exchange that it was included in, it sounded as though he was talking about the animals, because who else would be the victim?
00:05:59
Speaker 1: Okay, and frankly, this is not something, when we talk about human trafficking, something that we hear a lot about.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: I don't recall ever hearing about it.
00:06:09
Speaker 1: I'm told now, and looking up now, and hearing him now, that it is possible... That this has happened, that people are trafficked, and they are forced into awful acts with animals.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: Okay. Robes. There are so many of those people applying to the FBI that we need to change the rule is confusing.
00:06:38
Speaker 3: Right. So that would have been my next question. Just how many people does this... alleviate or what what what percentage of recruits or applicants are victims of bestiality that obviously it rose to a level that you all felt you needed to make.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: A change okay babe like.
00:06:59
Speaker 3: What what's happening this.
00:07:01
Speaker 1: Had to be a very specific case maybe or somebody they were trying Maybe it was.
00:07:05
Speaker 3: One person, which I would be more willing to say, oh, okay.
00:07:09
Speaker 6: Oh, okay, yes.
00:07:10
Speaker 3: But the way it was being presented, it was as if it was some major issue that so many people have suffered.
00:07:16
Speaker 2: That we're missing good people.
00:07:19
Speaker 3: Who could be serving because they've all been forced into bestiality. I was like, is this... Am I actually... Am I in a dream? Am I going to wake up? Is this actually happening in the halls of Congress? It was incredibly confusing, beyond bizarre, and I kept thinking that we were missing something.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: Okay, so everything we are talking about now, the next person to question Kash Patel was Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. If you have ever watched a hearing, he's just a straight shooter. Forget politics for a second. He really does. I think I've seen him question the left and the right, Republicans and Democrats, kind of the same. He kind of nails whatever you might be thinking, and he delivers it in that way. So by prefacing it with that, here is just an incredible exchange when he starts up next questioning Kash Patel.
00:08:21
Speaker 6: I've got a couple of questions here.
00:08:25
Speaker 2: Even that's funny, baby, the way he starts.
00:08:27
Speaker 3: He's uncomfortable.
00:08:28
Speaker 6: We have, and I'm really trying to understand, because I listened to the exchange between you and Senator Durbin, and I've read a few news accounts, and I'm confused. The FBI has qualifications to be an FBI agent. Is that correct?
00:08:53
Speaker 4: Yes, we've increased those qualifications and standards.
00:08:55
Speaker 6: Pull that mic closer to you.
00:08:56
Speaker 4: We've increased the standards and qualifications.
00:08:58
Speaker 6: Okay, but you have qualifications.
00:09:00
Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
00:09:01
Speaker 6: Now, you recently changed them. Is that right?
00:09:05
Speaker 4: Some of them.
00:09:06
Speaker 6: Some of them. And why did you do that?
00:09:09
Speaker 4: We changed the bureaucracy because when you first applied to the FBI, this is the most important example I can give, any position, special agent, intel analyst, support staff, you had to wait 100 days because of bureaucratic waste. before the FBI contacted you again. And what that meant was people who wanted to be employed by the FBI were finding jobs with other law enforcement agencies because they couldn't afford to wait around anymore.
00:09:32
Speaker 6: So you're going to do it quicker?
00:09:33
Speaker 4: Yep. Okay.
00:09:35
Speaker 6: But what about the actual substantive qualifications that have been reported? What changes did you make there?
00:09:45
Speaker 4: We require you to do a pull-up if you want to be an FBI agent.
00:09:47
Speaker 6: I understand. But you know what I'm getting at. I'm trying to understand this cash. Before the FBI made these changes, there were certain things. that disqualified you from being an FBI agent. Here it comes. And you, not you, but the agency said, we're no longer going to allow these things, this behavior, to disqualify you. What were the things you changed?
00:10:20
Speaker 4: Simply that if you were a victim of some of these vicious crimes and you wanted to serve this country, the FBI is now, for the first time ever, considering your application and not disqualifying you.
00:10:30
Speaker 6: Victim of what? Give me the example.
00:10:32
Speaker 4: Prostitution, bestiality, crimes like that, traffickers.
00:10:36
Speaker 6: So if you were... It's not if you frequented a prostitute. It's if you.
00:10:48
Speaker 6: Were a prostitute? Yes, the victim.
00:10:51
Speaker 4: Forced into it.
00:10:52
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:10:56
Speaker 1: Babe, he's genuinely shook.
00:10:59
Speaker 6: What about the bestiality?
00:11:02
Speaker 4: Same thing, because the regs wrote it up in a fashion before I arrived that addressed prostitution, bestiality, and trafficking. They were there before I got there.
00:11:11
Speaker 6: Tell me what it said before.
00:11:13
Speaker 4: It automatically disqualified any individual who participated on either side of it. Obviously, we are never going to hire the criminals.
00:11:22
Speaker 6: This side of what? The bestiality?
00:11:23
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:11:24
Speaker 6: So you disqualified the animals?
00:11:28
Speaker 4: Well, I don't think we have great canines, but we're not going to disqualify them.
00:11:32
Speaker 6: I understand.
00:11:32
Speaker 1: I'm trying to understand why you did this.
00:11:36
Speaker 6: This is not directed at you, Mr. Director. And I understand the game. people try to make you look bad. Uh, we do the same thing when, when the other parties in office and all of this stuff is really hurt the FBI. It's really hurt the FBI. So I'm trying to get to the bottom of this. Why would you, why would you in light of the, of the context, And what we're going through, and we're having a tough time attracting agents, good quality agents we all can trust, because so many people, fairly or unfairly, think that in order to be an FBI agent now, your political point of view matters. Why would you even get into bestiality?
00:12:35
Speaker 4: We are not into bestiality. A lot of these individuals... I know you're not, but you changed.
00:12:40
Speaker 6: But I'm trying to explain it.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: Hang on.
00:12:42
Speaker 6: You changed the qualifications and mentioned bestiality. If Joe participated in bestiality, not as the animal, but as the human, don't you think he ought to be disqualified? What does that mean?
00:12:58
Speaker 4: If he voluntarily did it, sure, but if he was trafficked into it.
00:13:01
Speaker 6: Okay, how do you involuntarily do it?
00:13:04
Speaker 4: In a lot of these cases, when human traffickers, who are some of the worst individuals on planet Earth, they don't just traffic you for prostitution, they traffic you for degrading acts of all kind, and they force you into that type of conduct. And some of these individuals would go on to be law enforcement officers who qualified to be law enforcement officers and later applied to the FBI.
00:13:23
Speaker 6: I mean, these changes didn't start with you, did they? Somebody came to you and recommended?
00:13:29
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:13:29
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:13:31
Speaker 6: And when you saw bestiality, I say this with respect. The person who recommended it, why didn't you just say, what planet did you parachute in from? Why do I want to leave with my chin and get into bestiality?
00:13:51
Speaker 4: That was my initial response, Senator. But they then explained to me and showed me cases in which people were forced into it and had applied to the FBI. And so I thought they should be considered. It's not an automatic disqualification.
00:14:03
Speaker 2: How many applicants, baby?
00:14:05
Speaker 6: All right, I think I understand. But you're not telling us today that if a human being had sex with an animal, that they can still be an FBI agent.
00:14:19
Speaker 3: No.
00:14:19
Speaker 6: Are you?
00:14:20
Speaker 3: No.
00:14:20
Speaker 6: They can't be, can they?
00:14:22
Speaker 4: They cannot.
00:14:23
Speaker 6: In fact, they ought to be in jail, right?
00:14:25
Speaker 3: They all are. That was amazing.
00:14:31
Speaker 6: All right.
00:14:31
Speaker 2: Stay here, folks.
00:14:32
Speaker 1: You'll get our full reaction to what you just heard.
00:14:35
Speaker 2: Stay here.
00:14:46
Speaker 3: Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. Did you ever think in your lifetime you would ever hear the director of the FBI testifying at a Senate hearing, we're not into bestiality? I mean, the fact that Cash Patel just said that, I mean, SNL.
00:15:04
Speaker 1: Has to do something with this.
00:15:06
Speaker 3: This has got to be what their opening is going to be next Saturday. They have to be taking furious notes after today's hearing.
00:15:15
Speaker 2: Robes, that was madness. What are we talking about? And you know what? God bless him. Senator Kennedy from Louisiana.
00:15:23
Speaker 3: I mean, he's a Republican talking to a Republican nominee.
00:15:26
Speaker 1: But babe, even when you see his posture in the video, he was genuinely like, okay, about this bestiality thing. Like he was having a real, very real moment.
00:15:37
Speaker 3: He was trying to help Kash Patel with the PR problem that has presented. And so you can see him like trying to get him to clarify it in a way that anyone who is as confused as maybe the rest of us are, why we could possibly understand why this would be a priority for the FBI to get new recruits. Because that's kind of how it's being packaged. Like, we need more people, so we went ahead and we let in the prostitutes and the folks who like... and, yeah, if you have a deviant sexual behavior, we don't mind.
00:16:13
Speaker 2: No, you had to be a victim, he said.
00:16:15
Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
00:16:15
Speaker 1: But, Ro, it is odd to think that you have to change the rule because we are losing so many good people because they were trafficked into bestiality.
00:16:26
Speaker 3: I mean, yes, we keep asking.
00:16:27
Speaker 2: No, I mean, seriously, baby, that sounds... Maybe we don't know.
00:16:31
Speaker 3: It sounds ridiculous is what it sounds like.
00:16:33
Speaker 2: I don't know, baby. They say it's a real thing, and it does sound... happen but how but.
00:16:39
Speaker 3: Okay so we've got a shortage so let's let's lift this restriction it's just a bizarre restriction to lift and because a how many people are we actually talking about b just the pr of it is bizarre and see i have a question look how do you prove you were a victim of it i don't know baby I didn't like it, I swear. I mean, I don't know. And how many people have been accused of this or are known to have... Do you have to volunteer the information and then... Or if you just keep it to yourself, it's like a don't ask, don't tell. Or is this a situation which these folks have been somehow prosecuted for it or there are pictures of them?
00:17:21
Speaker 2: They're victims of it, baby.
00:17:23
Speaker 3: But how is that documentable or provable?
00:17:26
Speaker 2: I didn't know this was a thing. It's so confusing. Baby, this is really odd. That you would, that this is a priority.
00:17:34
Speaker 3: Or a focus of any kind.
00:17:36
Speaker 1: And if they tell us it was like singular, like there was this one individual in particular and we needed this person and we needed to lift this, I would listen to that. That would make sense. But to tell me that the FBI is missing out on so many people because so many of them have bestiality on their records.
00:17:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, because I just would feel like it had to be something that was verifiable because That was preventing them from becoming an agent.
00:18:05
Speaker 1: But I think I give, again, Senator Kennedy credit for just being curious.
00:18:09
Speaker 2: He was curious today, babe.
00:18:11
Speaker 3: He was saying what everyone was thinking when they were listening to Kash Patel. Because also... Director Patel was just saying it so matter-of-factly, like he was saying something like, duh. Like he was just talking like, of course, like, how do you not know this?
00:18:26
Speaker 2: We're standing up for these people.
00:18:28
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:18:28
Speaker 1: We're not going to have an FBI that denies people just because they have bestiality on their resumes.
00:18:34
Speaker 3: He acted like he was a champion for victims' rights about a set of victims we weren't even aware existed or were trying to become FBI agents.
00:18:43
Speaker 2: I don't want to. We shouldn't.
00:18:45
Speaker 1: Downplay what I think is a real thing. People get trafficked into all kinds of things, but Robes, he's telling us the FBI is.
00:18:53
Speaker 2: Suffering because we don't let people in who've been victims of sexual crimes.
00:19:00
Speaker 3: And bestiality.
00:19:01
Speaker 2: In particular. Bestiality. And again, it's spelled B-E-S-T. I just found this out today.
00:19:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean... I was actually concerned about even, I had to put Kash Patel's name with it because I didn't want any other site to come up. I was very nervous.
00:19:18
Speaker 2: That is so funny you say that.
00:19:19
Speaker 1: And the way I did it, make sure I was on dictionary.com first and typed it into their website.
00:19:26
Speaker 3: That's so funny because now it's like the last thing you want on your search history of any kind. And then you said, do you know how to spell it? And I didn't. And then you and I were both proud of ourselves that neither one of us knew how to spell it, which... I don't know that I needed to prove anything, but I guess I just felt like that's how rare this is. None of us know how to say it or pronounce it. We know what it is. It's kind of like... not spoken about. And I don't know why it was the main focus of the Senate Judiciary hearing today.
00:19:59
Speaker 1: They did spend some time on it. A fascinating one today, folks. We appreciate you as always spending a little time with us.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: I'm T.J. Holmes on behalf of my dear Amy Robach. We'll talk to you all soon.
00:20:10
Speaker 5: Thank you.