May 12, 2026
Kash Patel Accuses Senator of "Slingin' Margaritas!" At Senate Hearing
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RSS Feed FBI Director Kash Patel squared off with Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen today and it got ugly. Senator Van Hollen asked Patel about “The Atlantic” article alleging excessive drinking on the job and Patel fired back, accusing Van Hollen of “slingin’ margaritas” with a “gangbanger.” Patel was referring to a meeting the Senator had with a mistakenly deported man, where margaritas were placed on the table, but Van Hollen denied drinking them.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks sit is Tuesday, May twelfth, and we'll be honest with you. We just came back from a nice lunch in which we had a couple of great, skinny margaritas, and that goes perfectly in line with the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing we just heard with Cash Battel. With that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Rose.
00:00:26
Speaker 1: You don't know I was going to start with that admission, but let's start with that. We get up at three in the morning, we work through early afternoon, we go have a lunch. We grabbed a margarita at lunch.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: Yes, so yes, our one o'clock as everyone else is five o'clock. Yes, and we had a skinny margarita each. So to that point we enjoyed ourselves. But we're fully capable.
00:00:45
Speaker 4: Of doing this podcast. Just wanted to make that clear.
00:00:48
Speaker 1: But I'm lining it up with the theme that we had no idea that we were kicking off a theme for the day because we did want to come back. Yes, we're jumping on here because Cash Battel mixed it up in these in the Center Appropriations Committee hearing robes. Yes, these things are supposed to be boring. We're used to them not being They can be contentious, but lately Robes, they have turned into something that, quite frankly, becomes embarrassing to watch.
00:01:14
Speaker 3: Yes, it's beyond political theater. It's we were when we set this up. If you haven't seen it, it we were wincing in anticipation. We were cringing knowing what was coming. And it even was worse than I thought it was going to be.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: And that says a lot. So look, this is cash Pttel. He's a very uh, he's a firebrand. He's the guy a lot of Democrats like to go after. He's a target of a lot in media and tabloids even sometimes. So, yes, they get him under oath. You know he's going to get tough questions. He has been Robes, you would argue, the last few weeks, he's been put through it. Right, He's taken a lot of hits publicly, whether it's the Nancy Guthrie case, whether they even it was go back to the Charlie Kirk investigation, but also with the.
00:01:59
Speaker 3: Drinking with the Atlantic, that was the really tough headline and the headline that won't let go. I mean, he has been asked and dogged with these allegations that the Atlantic says they had I mean, and one incident, it was nine anonymous sources all backing up these claims that he drinks on the job, that he's so hungover he can't be reached the next morning, that they had to buy special equipment to knock down his door to be able to get to him because he was so passed out they couldn't reach him. Talking about him being publicly intoxicated at places where he shouldn't, in public with members of the White House and Congress around him. So, yes, these are really tough allegations that have been leveled against him publicly.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: And then not just serious and not just embarrassing. These are you have national security implications job ending. Yes, this is a guy who is in charge of keeping this country safe. We need to make sure we know where he is. You knew this was going to come up. Is come up in previous hearings. But let's go with Chris van Holland in particular, the Senator from Maryland, Democrat from Maryland and rose. We were watching as the hearing got started, and again this is Appropriations Committee hearing. He was up there with several other top agency heads, and so they were all answering questions, but you knew Patel was going to get a lot and rose. As these things go, the chair gives a statement, the co chair gives a statement, and then you go Democrat Republican, Democrat Republican.
00:03:31
Speaker 2: With the questioning.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: So we were kind of a little bit listening to the Republicans, and then we were listening very closely to the Democrats because we knew it was going to be tough.
00:03:38
Speaker 4: Questioning yes, of course.
00:03:40
Speaker 3: And so when it was Senator Chris van Holland's turn, he actually did something really interesting. So he went down the line and asked each agency head what they would do if they had a report that someone who worked for them was drinking excessively on the job.
00:03:57
Speaker 4: How would they handle that situation.
00:03:59
Speaker 3: DJ and I immediately looked at each other and we were like, oh, my goodness, you know where.
00:04:03
Speaker 4: This is going.
00:04:04
Speaker 3: So each department head would say, well, obviously I would have an investigation take place. There would be an internal investigation, impending the results, there would be disciplinary action taken immediately. So that's what so each agency and he goes down until he reaches Cash Battel and cash Betel says, yeah, I do what they would do.
00:04:23
Speaker 1: Okay, he set it up pretty well, I thought, but we knew where it was going, and I mean it was a hell of a setup, all right. So we're gonna let you hear now the exchange between Chris vun Holland, Senator from Maryland, and Cash Btateel. You're going to hear Senator Ben Holland's voice first, and we're gonna jump in and out as it goes. But here it is the beginning of the exchange. This whole thing goes about three three and a half minutes, and we will stop throughout. But listen to this.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: This is what.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: Your members of Congress are up to.
00:04:55
Speaker 2: Take a listen.
00:04:56
Speaker 5: I really don't care about your personal life so long as you are able to perform your public and official responsibilities, which are awesome responsibilities. Multiple reports, including reporting by the Atlantic, have alleged episodes of excessive drinking, unexplained absences and behavior that concern current and former FBI and DOJ officials. You have publicly denied those allegations and filed a defamation lawsuits. So today's you testify before Congress. Is it your testimony that those allegations are categorically.
00:05:32
Speaker 6: False, unequivocally categorically false.
00:05:35
Speaker 5: So there have been no occasions during your tenure when FBI personnel were unable to promptly reach you.
00:05:40
Speaker 6: Absolutely not. You can ask my entire workforce. They hear from me at every single hour of the day, as do these great gentlemen here, as do the men and women of the interagency in state and local law enforcement in the White House.
00:05:51
Speaker 5: And so there have been no occasions when your security detail had difficulty waking or locating you.
00:05:55
Speaker 2: Is that right?
00:05:56
Speaker 6: No, if it's a total force, I don't even know where you get this stuff, But it doesn't make it credit them because you say so.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: All right, so far, so good.
00:06:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean this is a fair exchange.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: Van Holland's asking questions based off this article, and right now Cash Patel is answering them matter of factly and denying them as you would expect.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Okay, Ben Holland continues.
00:06:19
Speaker 5: I'm not saying it, Director Patel. It's been written and documented.
00:06:23
Speaker 6: You are literally saying it.
00:06:24
Speaker 5: No, I'm saying that these are reports, Director Patel.
00:06:27
Speaker 6: Unlike unlike reports. The only person that was slinging Margarita is in the Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang banging rapist?
00:06:36
Speaker 2: Was you you know WHOA where did that come from?
00:06:40
Speaker 4: He just took a dark turn. My good.
00:06:44
Speaker 1: We have listened to those twelve times and every time I hear a slangon Margarita's with a gang banger, it's the music ready. He was armed and really was ready for that, But for us it came out of nowhere. So listen to them. Continue with the Margarita exchange.
00:07:02
Speaker 6: A person that ran up a director thousand dollars bar tab in Washington, d C.
00:07:07
Speaker 3: The lobby.
00:07:07
Speaker 5: Dear you.
00:07:10
Speaker 6: In this room all drinking on taxpayer dime during the day.
00:07:16
Speaker 5: Director Patel, Come on, these are serious allegations that were made against you.
00:07:22
Speaker 6: All filed you drinking Margarita's with a young guy running a seven thousand dollar bar tab at the lobby bar, but has been filed by your own office during the day. That's you. This is an ultimate example of apocrips. I will not be tarnished by baseless allegation. Let me statements from the media.
00:07:44
Speaker 7: He can't stop giggling because he just I mean, he is so ready for this and he just keeps making his point, talking over Senator Van Holland the entire time.
00:07:55
Speaker 3: To the point where obviously I had to google to get really into the weeds about what cash Battel was referring to her.
00:08:02
Speaker 4: And there are pictures and it's fascinating.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: So we're not done with the sound exchange. But yes, let's go ahead and explain that robes. We had to look it up and remember what he was talking about. But what he's making an accusation that Senator Van Allen was salang and Margharita's there is a real story behind us with.
00:08:21
Speaker 4: A gang banging rapist, is what he said.
00:08:23
Speaker 3: Okay, he is referring to a photo that was several photos actually that were taken and even was there video as well, I believe, Okay, where Senator Van Holland met with wrongly deported Marylynd, Resident Kilmore Abrego Garcia. He has been in the news everywhere. He was deported wrongfully eventually had to be brought back to the United States. But the Senator was meeting with him and he stated that when they first started, they just had water on the table. There was not alcohol. But at some point Senator Holland says El Salvadoran officials put margarita's on the table that were never touched and never they never drank them.
00:09:09
Speaker 4: And they say, if.
00:09:09
Speaker 3: You look at all the photos, the volume of liquid in those margaritas never changes.
00:09:16
Speaker 4: And you can see the original photo. You looked it up yourself.
00:09:19
Speaker 1: It's the story, he told. He's sticking to it. And they called it Margharita Gate at the time. But yes, when that meeting started, there was just water on the table. And for whatever reason, a little while later and look, we are margarita fans, and the drinks that were on there looked too clear to be margarita's. But they did have salt or sugar around the rim and a.
00:09:37
Speaker 3: Cherr cherry a cherry maybe that's how they do it in El Salvador.
00:09:41
Speaker 1: But they looked fancy. So they're trying to and and Van Holland said it was part of the government down there trying to give some impression as if this was a kinder, gentler El Salvador in some way and type of meeting. So that's what hash Purtel is talking about. He was ready for that. He was our and ready sling and Margarita's all right, let's get to the rest of this.
00:10:04
Speaker 5: The fact that you mentioned that indicates you don't know what you are talking about.
00:10:10
Speaker 6: Now here direct only thing I always you're the one drinking ruggaritas with film.
00:10:13
Speaker 5: Actually that's a false statement. And I'm asking you about your statements, and I'm asking you about a particular report and it's not a testimony. It's so let me ask you this. Are you willing to take the test that it's called the audit test that members of our active duty military and others take to determine whether they have a drinking problem.
00:10:40
Speaker 6: I'll take any test you're willing to take.
00:10:42
Speaker 5: I will take it, Director Peteli, I'll take it. Ready to take it.
00:10:46
Speaker 6: Let's go yes or no, let's go side by side.
00:10:50
Speaker 1: Uh you think that meeting, that that test, that never happening.
00:10:54
Speaker 4: And and look that's where it just went off the rails for me. That's where it jumped the shark.
00:10:59
Speaker 3: I understand stand with Van Holland was trying to say, but that fell really flat for me.
00:11:05
Speaker 4: And then just like two guys go yeah, I'll do it. If you do it. If you do it, I'll do it. That's what it just seems silly.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: It actually became It was already kind of laughable, if not embarrassing, It was actually really just kind of embarrassing, and then it became laughable. But that's all embarrassing when you're talking about the world is watching, we are at war, like this is embarrassing.
00:11:28
Speaker 1: The FBI director and the US senator from Connecticut. Excuse me, Maryland, Sorry, sorry about that. Connecticut. Y'all might not want to claim him in this moment, but stay here. Even with that back and forth, there was another senator up there who had something to say to cash Betel, and she put it a different way. She was mild and how she delivered it, but a pretty powerful statement nonetheless to hear.
00:12:07
Speaker 2: All Right, we.
00:12:07
Speaker 1: Continue here on this Margarita Tuesday apparently here on Amia TJ.
00:12:14
Speaker 2: Cash Betel.
00:12:15
Speaker 1: The testimony is still going on, actually, but we're hopping on after And this is something Ropes we talk about plenty. We watch more congressional hearings than the average American, and it gets to a point where they used to be interesting. Sometimes they were even entertaining because they could get contentious. But now they've gotten so nasty that you don't even want to watch.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: It's embarrassing.
00:12:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's even beyond explosive. It's like watching two school yard I don't know, bully is fighting each other, and it's just really it's gotten embarrassing. It's it's beyond theater, it's beyond entertainment. It's it's just I want to look away, and yet unfortunately we can't because everyone the world is watching.
00:12:57
Speaker 4: And so yes, we just told you about and you just heard fears.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: Off the exchange between Senator Van Holland and Cash Battel. But then was Patty Murray's turn. She is the Democratic vice chair of the Senator Appropriations Committee, and she went on to question Cash Btel's leadership abilities, and so she went there.
00:13:18
Speaker 4: She referenced Van.
00:13:19
Speaker 3: Holland's line of questioning, and she said, I am deeply concerned about the reports that your leadership has not been serious.
00:13:27
Speaker 4: Your job is to be reachable.
00:13:29
Speaker 3: If you want to pass out liquor or pop bottles in a locker room, stick to podcasting, leave law and order to people who really do care about justice and appearances.
00:13:40
Speaker 1: Mike drop, you know what the so much of the mic drop part of that was the way she delivered it. Yep, it lacked emotion. It was almost kind in how she delivered it. I'm just saying she came off like something my mom would say, almost disappointment in me, like, you know, we have a big responsibility here, and if you're not gonna take it seriously, go over and do that thing.
00:14:04
Speaker 2: But this is serious.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: She's spoke in that kind of mature way, and I people might take issue with it, but she didn't come off obviously everything is partisan, but she just she didn't seem mean spirited.
00:14:15
Speaker 3: Maybe that's a good way to put it. I also noticed, I don't know if you did. You notice everything? What am I talking about? But she was looking down, she was reading it. She had planned what she said. So obviously van Holland planned what he was going to do, but he was certainly speaking and cash Pttel was reacting all with emotion in the moment, in the heat of the moment, and I think that's why it got to the level it got. It was interesting because Sanata Murray, you could tell she thought this through.
00:14:43
Speaker 4: She wanted to acknowledge it. She wanted him to hear her say it, but she didn't.
00:14:47
Speaker 3: She didn't go too far and she didn't linger. And I think maybe just having that I do think there is. Sometimes we forget the beauty of writing things out first before we say them, maybe even writing things out before we tweet them or send them in an email. Sometimes just sitting with your words and looking at them first, making sure that's how you want to say them before we say them can go a long way.
00:15:11
Speaker 2: But that doesn't get you on the evening news.
00:15:13
Speaker 3: No, because no one's going to be talking about Patty Murray.
00:15:17
Speaker 4: They're only going to be talking about Chris vn Holland. And that is the truth.
00:15:21
Speaker 3: And that is the sad part of it because at this point, at least the way the game is played these days, it's who gets the most clicks, who gets the most attention, who gets the most.
00:15:30
Speaker 4: Headlines, who gets the most time on the evening news, although that is becoming less and less.
00:15:35
Speaker 2: Important, there's a lot of cable hours to fill. Still, that's true.
00:15:39
Speaker 4: That's true.
00:15:40
Speaker 1: All right, folks, just want to hop on and give you that updates. We always appreciate you spending some time with this. My dear Amy Robot, I'm TJ.
00:15:47
Speaker 2: Holmes. We will be talking to y'all real sick
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks sit is Tuesday, May twelfth, and we'll be honest with you. We just came back from a nice lunch in which we had a couple of great, skinny margaritas, and that goes perfectly in line with the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing we just heard with Cash Battel. With that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Rose.
00:00:26
Speaker 1: You don't know I was going to start with that admission, but let's start with that. We get up at three in the morning, we work through early afternoon, we go have a lunch. We grabbed a margarita at lunch.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: Yes, so yes, our one o'clock as everyone else is five o'clock. Yes, and we had a skinny margarita each. So to that point we enjoyed ourselves. But we're fully capable.
00:00:45
Speaker 4: Of doing this podcast. Just wanted to make that clear.
00:00:48
Speaker 1: But I'm lining it up with the theme that we had no idea that we were kicking off a theme for the day because we did want to come back. Yes, we're jumping on here because Cash Battel mixed it up in these in the Center Appropriations Committee hearing robes. Yes, these things are supposed to be boring. We're used to them not being They can be contentious, but lately Robes, they have turned into something that, quite frankly, becomes embarrassing to watch.
00:01:14
Speaker 3: Yes, it's beyond political theater. It's we were when we set this up. If you haven't seen it, it we were wincing in anticipation. We were cringing knowing what was coming. And it even was worse than I thought it was going to be.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: And that says a lot. So look, this is cash Pttel. He's a very uh, he's a firebrand. He's the guy a lot of Democrats like to go after. He's a target of a lot in media and tabloids even sometimes. So, yes, they get him under oath. You know he's going to get tough questions. He has been Robes, you would argue, the last few weeks, he's been put through it. Right, He's taken a lot of hits publicly, whether it's the Nancy Guthrie case, whether they even it was go back to the Charlie Kirk investigation, but also with the.
00:01:59
Speaker 3: Drinking with the Atlantic, that was the really tough headline and the headline that won't let go. I mean, he has been asked and dogged with these allegations that the Atlantic says they had I mean, and one incident, it was nine anonymous sources all backing up these claims that he drinks on the job, that he's so hungover he can't be reached the next morning, that they had to buy special equipment to knock down his door to be able to get to him because he was so passed out they couldn't reach him. Talking about him being publicly intoxicated at places where he shouldn't, in public with members of the White House and Congress around him. So, yes, these are really tough allegations that have been leveled against him publicly.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: And then not just serious and not just embarrassing. These are you have national security implications job ending. Yes, this is a guy who is in charge of keeping this country safe. We need to make sure we know where he is. You knew this was going to come up. Is come up in previous hearings. But let's go with Chris van Holland in particular, the Senator from Maryland, Democrat from Maryland and rose. We were watching as the hearing got started, and again this is Appropriations Committee hearing. He was up there with several other top agency heads, and so they were all answering questions, but you knew Patel was going to get a lot and rose. As these things go, the chair gives a statement, the co chair gives a statement, and then you go Democrat Republican, Democrat Republican.
00:03:31
Speaker 2: With the questioning.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: So we were kind of a little bit listening to the Republicans, and then we were listening very closely to the Democrats because we knew it was going to be tough.
00:03:38
Speaker 4: Questioning yes, of course.
00:03:40
Speaker 3: And so when it was Senator Chris van Holland's turn, he actually did something really interesting. So he went down the line and asked each agency head what they would do if they had a report that someone who worked for them was drinking excessively on the job.
00:03:57
Speaker 4: How would they handle that situation.
00:03:59
Speaker 3: DJ and I immediately looked at each other and we were like, oh, my goodness, you know where.
00:04:03
Speaker 4: This is going.
00:04:04
Speaker 3: So each department head would say, well, obviously I would have an investigation take place. There would be an internal investigation, impending the results, there would be disciplinary action taken immediately. So that's what so each agency and he goes down until he reaches Cash Battel and cash Betel says, yeah, I do what they would do.
00:04:23
Speaker 1: Okay, he set it up pretty well, I thought, but we knew where it was going, and I mean it was a hell of a setup, all right. So we're gonna let you hear now the exchange between Chris vun Holland, Senator from Maryland, and Cash Btateel. You're going to hear Senator Ben Holland's voice first, and we're gonna jump in and out as it goes. But here it is the beginning of the exchange. This whole thing goes about three three and a half minutes, and we will stop throughout. But listen to this.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: This is what.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: Your members of Congress are up to.
00:04:55
Speaker 2: Take a listen.
00:04:56
Speaker 5: I really don't care about your personal life so long as you are able to perform your public and official responsibilities, which are awesome responsibilities. Multiple reports, including reporting by the Atlantic, have alleged episodes of excessive drinking, unexplained absences and behavior that concern current and former FBI and DOJ officials. You have publicly denied those allegations and filed a defamation lawsuits. So today's you testify before Congress. Is it your testimony that those allegations are categorically.
00:05:32
Speaker 6: False, unequivocally categorically false.
00:05:35
Speaker 5: So there have been no occasions during your tenure when FBI personnel were unable to promptly reach you.
00:05:40
Speaker 6: Absolutely not. You can ask my entire workforce. They hear from me at every single hour of the day, as do these great gentlemen here, as do the men and women of the interagency in state and local law enforcement in the White House.
00:05:51
Speaker 5: And so there have been no occasions when your security detail had difficulty waking or locating you.
00:05:55
Speaker 2: Is that right?
00:05:56
Speaker 6: No, if it's a total force, I don't even know where you get this stuff, But it doesn't make it credit them because you say so.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: All right, so far, so good.
00:06:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean this is a fair exchange.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: Van Holland's asking questions based off this article, and right now Cash Patel is answering them matter of factly and denying them as you would expect.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Okay, Ben Holland continues.
00:06:19
Speaker 5: I'm not saying it, Director Patel. It's been written and documented.
00:06:23
Speaker 6: You are literally saying it.
00:06:24
Speaker 5: No, I'm saying that these are reports, Director Patel.
00:06:27
Speaker 6: Unlike unlike reports. The only person that was slinging Margarita is in the Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang banging rapist?
00:06:36
Speaker 2: Was you you know WHOA where did that come from?
00:06:40
Speaker 4: He just took a dark turn. My good.
00:06:44
Speaker 1: We have listened to those twelve times and every time I hear a slangon Margarita's with a gang banger, it's the music ready. He was armed and really was ready for that, But for us it came out of nowhere. So listen to them. Continue with the Margarita exchange.
00:07:02
Speaker 6: A person that ran up a director thousand dollars bar tab in Washington, d C.
00:07:07
Speaker 3: The lobby.
00:07:07
Speaker 5: Dear you.
00:07:10
Speaker 6: In this room all drinking on taxpayer dime during the day.
00:07:16
Speaker 5: Director Patel, Come on, these are serious allegations that were made against you.
00:07:22
Speaker 6: All filed you drinking Margarita's with a young guy running a seven thousand dollar bar tab at the lobby bar, but has been filed by your own office during the day. That's you. This is an ultimate example of apocrips. I will not be tarnished by baseless allegation. Let me statements from the media.
00:07:44
Speaker 7: He can't stop giggling because he just I mean, he is so ready for this and he just keeps making his point, talking over Senator Van Holland the entire time.
00:07:55
Speaker 3: To the point where obviously I had to google to get really into the weeds about what cash Battel was referring to her.
00:08:02
Speaker 4: And there are pictures and it's fascinating.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: So we're not done with the sound exchange. But yes, let's go ahead and explain that robes. We had to look it up and remember what he was talking about. But what he's making an accusation that Senator Van Allen was salang and Margharita's there is a real story behind us with.
00:08:21
Speaker 4: A gang banging rapist, is what he said.
00:08:23
Speaker 3: Okay, he is referring to a photo that was several photos actually that were taken and even was there video as well, I believe, Okay, where Senator Van Holland met with wrongly deported Marylynd, Resident Kilmore Abrego Garcia. He has been in the news everywhere. He was deported wrongfully eventually had to be brought back to the United States. But the Senator was meeting with him and he stated that when they first started, they just had water on the table. There was not alcohol. But at some point Senator Holland says El Salvadoran officials put margarita's on the table that were never touched and never they never drank them.
00:09:09
Speaker 4: And they say, if.
00:09:09
Speaker 3: You look at all the photos, the volume of liquid in those margaritas never changes.
00:09:16
Speaker 4: And you can see the original photo. You looked it up yourself.
00:09:19
Speaker 1: It's the story, he told. He's sticking to it. And they called it Margharita Gate at the time. But yes, when that meeting started, there was just water on the table. And for whatever reason, a little while later and look, we are margarita fans, and the drinks that were on there looked too clear to be margarita's. But they did have salt or sugar around the rim and a.
00:09:37
Speaker 3: Cherr cherry a cherry maybe that's how they do it in El Salvador.
00:09:41
Speaker 1: But they looked fancy. So they're trying to and and Van Holland said it was part of the government down there trying to give some impression as if this was a kinder, gentler El Salvador in some way and type of meeting. So that's what hash Purtel is talking about. He was ready for that. He was our and ready sling and Margarita's all right, let's get to the rest of this.
00:10:04
Speaker 5: The fact that you mentioned that indicates you don't know what you are talking about.
00:10:10
Speaker 6: Now here direct only thing I always you're the one drinking ruggaritas with film.
00:10:13
Speaker 5: Actually that's a false statement. And I'm asking you about your statements, and I'm asking you about a particular report and it's not a testimony. It's so let me ask you this. Are you willing to take the test that it's called the audit test that members of our active duty military and others take to determine whether they have a drinking problem.
00:10:40
Speaker 6: I'll take any test you're willing to take.
00:10:42
Speaker 5: I will take it, Director Peteli, I'll take it. Ready to take it.
00:10:46
Speaker 6: Let's go yes or no, let's go side by side.
00:10:50
Speaker 1: Uh you think that meeting, that that test, that never happening.
00:10:54
Speaker 4: And and look that's where it just went off the rails for me. That's where it jumped the shark.
00:10:59
Speaker 3: I understand stand with Van Holland was trying to say, but that fell really flat for me.
00:11:05
Speaker 4: And then just like two guys go yeah, I'll do it. If you do it. If you do it, I'll do it. That's what it just seems silly.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: It actually became It was already kind of laughable, if not embarrassing, It was actually really just kind of embarrassing, and then it became laughable. But that's all embarrassing when you're talking about the world is watching, we are at war, like this is embarrassing.
00:11:28
Speaker 1: The FBI director and the US senator from Connecticut. Excuse me, Maryland, Sorry, sorry about that. Connecticut. Y'all might not want to claim him in this moment, but stay here. Even with that back and forth, there was another senator up there who had something to say to cash Betel, and she put it a different way. She was mild and how she delivered it, but a pretty powerful statement nonetheless to hear.
00:12:07
Speaker 2: All Right, we.
00:12:07
Speaker 1: Continue here on this Margarita Tuesday apparently here on Amia TJ.
00:12:14
Speaker 2: Cash Betel.
00:12:15
Speaker 1: The testimony is still going on, actually, but we're hopping on after And this is something Ropes we talk about plenty. We watch more congressional hearings than the average American, and it gets to a point where they used to be interesting. Sometimes they were even entertaining because they could get contentious. But now they've gotten so nasty that you don't even want to watch.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: It's embarrassing.
00:12:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's even beyond explosive. It's like watching two school yard I don't know, bully is fighting each other, and it's just really it's gotten embarrassing. It's it's beyond theater, it's beyond entertainment. It's it's just I want to look away, and yet unfortunately we can't because everyone the world is watching.
00:12:57
Speaker 4: And so yes, we just told you about and you just heard fears.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: Off the exchange between Senator Van Holland and Cash Battel. But then was Patty Murray's turn. She is the Democratic vice chair of the Senator Appropriations Committee, and she went on to question Cash Btel's leadership abilities, and so she went there.
00:13:18
Speaker 4: She referenced Van.
00:13:19
Speaker 3: Holland's line of questioning, and she said, I am deeply concerned about the reports that your leadership has not been serious.
00:13:27
Speaker 4: Your job is to be reachable.
00:13:29
Speaker 3: If you want to pass out liquor or pop bottles in a locker room, stick to podcasting, leave law and order to people who really do care about justice and appearances.
00:13:40
Speaker 1: Mike drop, you know what the so much of the mic drop part of that was the way she delivered it. Yep, it lacked emotion. It was almost kind in how she delivered it. I'm just saying she came off like something my mom would say, almost disappointment in me, like, you know, we have a big responsibility here, and if you're not gonna take it seriously, go over and do that thing.
00:14:04
Speaker 2: But this is serious.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: She's spoke in that kind of mature way, and I people might take issue with it, but she didn't come off obviously everything is partisan, but she just she didn't seem mean spirited.
00:14:15
Speaker 3: Maybe that's a good way to put it. I also noticed, I don't know if you did. You notice everything? What am I talking about? But she was looking down, she was reading it. She had planned what she said. So obviously van Holland planned what he was going to do, but he was certainly speaking and cash Pttel was reacting all with emotion in the moment, in the heat of the moment, and I think that's why it got to the level it got. It was interesting because Sanata Murray, you could tell she thought this through.
00:14:43
Speaker 4: She wanted to acknowledge it. She wanted him to hear her say it, but she didn't.
00:14:47
Speaker 3: She didn't go too far and she didn't linger. And I think maybe just having that I do think there is. Sometimes we forget the beauty of writing things out first before we say them, maybe even writing things out before we tweet them or send them in an email. Sometimes just sitting with your words and looking at them first, making sure that's how you want to say them before we say them can go a long way.
00:15:11
Speaker 2: But that doesn't get you on the evening news.
00:15:13
Speaker 3: No, because no one's going to be talking about Patty Murray.
00:15:17
Speaker 4: They're only going to be talking about Chris vn Holland. And that is the truth.
00:15:21
Speaker 3: And that is the sad part of it because at this point, at least the way the game is played these days, it's who gets the most clicks, who gets the most attention, who gets the most.
00:15:30
Speaker 4: Headlines, who gets the most time on the evening news, although that is becoming less and less.
00:15:35
Speaker 2: Important, there's a lot of cable hours to fill. Still, that's true.
00:15:39
Speaker 4: That's true.
00:15:40
Speaker 1: All right, folks, just want to hop on and give you that updates. We always appreciate you spending some time with this. My dear Amy Robot, I'm TJ.
00:15:47
Speaker 2: Holmes. We will be talking to y'all real sick