Kash Patel Refuses to Take a Republican’s Lifeline

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture.

Sign up for it here.

President Trump appointed Kash Patel to lead the FBI not because of his brief experience in law enforcement but because he is a political brawler.

The problem, as Patel demonstrated yesterday, is that he is not a very good one: No skilled political messenger would have allowed nearly every headline about a Senate hearing to connect their name and agency with bestiality.

Yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was Patel’s first appearance on Capitol Hill since a raucous visit in May . (At that hearing, Patel and Senator Chris Van Hollen verbally agreed to each take a self-screening test for alcohol abuse.

Van Hollen posted his results the next day, but his office said it never heard back from Patel.) It was also Patel’s first hearing since CBS News revealed changes to FBI hiring standards, which reportedly now allow the bureau to consider applicants who have hired prostitutes fewer than three times, stole from an employer more than three years ago, or engaged in sex with animals before the age of 18.

Democrats were eager to press Patel on the changes, but the hearing’s buzziest exchange turned out to be between Patel and Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a Republican.

During his questioning, Kennedy seemed to be doing everything he could to offer Patel a chance to defuse the story—but Patel, unable or unwilling to recognize the openings, didn’t take them.

The ranking Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, asked about the new requirements first.

Patel said the bestiality change was designed to ensure that people who had been forced to engage in sex with animals were not shut out of an FBI job.

“We did not want to punish victims of bestiality,” Patel said.

“We are not going to target victims.” Whether this is accurate is unclear.

The memo laying out the new standards has not been made public, but sources told CBS News that the rules “do not distinguish between candidates who were coerced into sexual activity with animals, as opposed to those who engaged in such acts willingly.” Kennedy was the next senator to quiz Patel, and he tried to do some cleanup.

“I’m really trying to understand,” he said, rubbing his face.