A heated exchange erupted Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when FBI Director Kash Patel defended physical fitness standards for incoming special agents, including a pullup requirement that Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) criticized as disproportionately affecting female applicants. The dispute began when Hirono questioned Patel on recent changes to FBI recruitment standards , In a press conference on Sept. 12, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel announced the capture and arrest of Tyler Robinson, the alleged gunman behind the shooting death of right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk. After some backslapping and grandstanding with Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Patel ended his part of the announcement with a tribute to Kirk, one that left many viewers perplexed. “Lastly, to my , FBI Director Kash Patel launched into a heated takedown of Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) at a Tuesday hearing, lobbing multiple insults at a lawmaker who is also a frequent target of President Trump’s., “Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be FBI director, was paid $25,000 last year by a film company owned by a Russian national who also holds U.S. citizenship and has produced programs promoting ‘deep state’ conspiracy theories and anti-Western views advanced by the Kremlin,” the Washington Post reports., The man accused of fatally shooting conservative influencer Charlie Kirk at a Utah university last week has been linked to evidence found at the scene through DNA sequencing, FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday., Three high-ranking FBI officials were fired last month in a campaign of retribution by Director Kash Patel, who bowed to political pressure from the Trump administration. Patel indicated to one of the ousted agents, Brian Driscoll, that he knew the firings were likely illegal but was powerless to stop them because the White House and the Justice Department wanted to remove agents who .