Schiff: Patel's FBI leadership replaced expertise with 'rabid partisanship'

Sen Adam Schiff D-Calif sharply criticized Kash Patel's tenure as FBI director Wednesday telling reporters that he viewed Patel's leadership as deeply partisan and a terrible tragedy for the nation's sprawling law enforcement agency Speaking at a news conference alongside former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi D-Calif and other House Democrats Schiff took umbrage at Patel s testimony one day earlier before the Senate Judiciary Committee which Schiff stated further crystallized his concerns about politicization within the bureau The FBI has been the premier law enforcement agency in the country and the world because they've been constantly professional and non-partisan Schiff disclosed Wednesday noting the close working relationship he had with FBI agents during the years he spent as a federal prosecutor FBI AGENTS GROUP TELLS CONGRESS TO TAKE URGENT ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST POLITICIZATION It is a terrible tragedy I think for the men and women of the bureau to have such poor leadership that is replacing expertise with incompetence that is replacing non-partisanship with the the majority rabid partisanship Schiff notified Fox News Digital And this is not unrelated to why we're here in current times His remarks come as Patel appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday for a second day of testimony before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees FBI AGENTS DETAIL J ROLE IN EXHAUSTIVE QUESTIONNAIRE EMPLOYEES 'WERE INSTRUCTED TO FILL OUT'Both hearings were marked by sharp lines of questioning from Democrats who grilled Patel on issues ranging from a flurry of FBI firings the bureau s handling of the Epstein files and concerns of politicization among a great number of other things Schiff in particular pressed Patel on his tenure at the FBI saying the bureau s agents mostly assigned to its field offices across the country and loath to see their work politicized needed to know what if any marching orders Patel had received from President Donald Trump The heated back-and-forth devolved into a shouting match between the two as Schiff pressed Patel repeatedly over the firings of FBI agents and whether those individuals were removed for political reasons Patel for his part described Schiff as a political buffoon Speaking to reporters Wednesday Schiff revealed Patel's appearance did little to assuage his broader fears of weaponization within the bureau You can't have a vibrant democracy without the rule of law he advised Fox News Digital You can't have the rule of law if you have a weaponized FBI and a weaponized Justice Department and sadly that's what we have here at present Schiff declared He also weighed in on Patel's remarks the previous evening on the Epstein files another issue that sparked intense criticism from lawmakers after Patel claimed Tuesday that there was no credible evidence that Jeffrey Epstein was trafficking women other than himself Schiff revealed it was a startling claim particularly from someone who had previously promoted the belief that Epstein maintained a vast client list of powerful people So it was thoroughly contradictory to everything he announced in the past he stated He also noted Patel's refusal to answer his questions on why Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to press Ghislaine Maxwell further on the Cabinet members she identified as being close to Epstein or having a relationship with him during a two-day interview in July Blanche refused to ask who they were and just ignored her comment And this is again the kind of incompetence we're seeing he explained adding Incompetence is likely the the greater part polite thing I can describe but it certainly looks like a cover-up The Justice Department and FBI have struggled to quell the mounting community pressure on them to release more information related to the Epstein examination underscoring the story's sticking power in a fast-moving news cycle and among Trump supporters who have been various of the leading voices in demanding the information be disclosed