"I don’t give a damn what you do on your own time and your own dime, unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities," Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said during a hearing on May 12
NEED TO KNOW
- FBI Director Kash Patel said he would complete the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test following a testy exchange with Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen on May 12
- Patel agreed to take the test if Van Hollen were to take it with him “side by side”
- Van Hollen posted a photo of his completed self-report on May 13 and challenged Patel to do the same
FBI Director Kash Patel said he would submit to a voluntary test of his alcohol use after a heated exchange on Tuesday, May 12, with Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen over allegations that Patel has drank to excess on the job.
Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, questioned Patel during a budget hearing on Tuesday about a story published in The Atlantic last month claiming Patel has “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”
“Director Patel, I don’t care one bit about your private life,” Van Hollen said Tuesday. “I don’t give a damn what you do on your own time and your own dime, unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities.”
Patel, who has vehemently denied the outlet’s reporting, has since sued The Atlantic in a $250 million defamation lawsuit. “Any one of you that wants to participate, bring it on,” Patel told reporters at the Justice Department late last month.
The Atlantic has said it stands by its reporting, calling Patel’s suit “meritless.”
On Tuesday, the FBI director again called the outlet’s report “unequivocally, categorically false,” but said he would take the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, a screening tool for hazardous alcohol consumption, if Van Hollen were to take it with him.
Credit: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty
“Let’s go,” Patel said. “Side by side.”
In a social media post on Wednesday, May 13, Van Hollen said he had completed the 10-question assessment, and uploaded a photo of a finished self-report with his signature.
“Given all the lies he told yesterday, I imagine he'll fudge the numbers here, but let's see yours, Director Patel,” Van Hollen wrote on X.
The FBI did not immediately return a request for comment on the senator’s post or say whether Patel would now complete the test himself.
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Patel sparred with multiple lawmakers during Tuesday’s contentious hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, often deflecting questions from Democrats with his own accusations of wrongdoing.
“The only person who was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gangbanging rapist was you,” Patel said during his tense exchange with Van Hollen.
The senator was photographed with Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration — last April during a visit to El Salvador, where Abrego Garcia was detained at the time, with drinks appearing to contain alcohol.
Van Hollen has since accused El Salvador’s government of intentionally misrepresenting the nature of his meeting with Abrego Garcia, who immigrated to Maryland from El Salvador as a teenager. He has never been charged with rape.
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