Sen. Adam Schiff of California posted a clip accusing FBI Director Kash Patel of lowering bureau hiring standards after a Senate exchange over bestiality no longer being an automatic disqualifier. According to the post, Patel defended the change by saying he wanted to protect people “on both sides.” Online users reacted after the video circulated, with many criticizing Schiff’s framing of the hearing and others focusing on Patel’s explanation.
The video shows Schiff recounting a Senate Judiciary Committee exchange with FBI Director Kash Patel over bureau hiring rules. “You probably saw one of the most embarrassing parts was his defense of the FBI changing their hiring practices so that they could hire people who’ve been convicted or accused of bestiality,”
Schiff says. He adds that, “with the departure of all of these agents,” officials “really had to lower their standards to try to fill their ranks.” Schiff later says, “the FBI director doesn’t know what bestiality is when he signed the order lowering the standards.” The footage does not include Patel’s full hearing answers.
According to the X caption, Patel “lowered the hiring standards at the FBI so they could employ people who engaged in bestiality” and then “tried to defend it by saying he wanted to protect those on both sides.”
News accounts of the Sept. 15 hearing reported that Patel said earlier rules had automatically disqualified anyone who “participated on either side of it,” that the change was meant to avoid barring trafficking victims, and that someone who “voluntarily did it” should still be disqualified. Schiff’s clip does not show those remarks.
Responses to Schiff’s Clip on Patel’s FBI Hiring Remarks
Some viewers focused on the phrasing Schiff highlighted. One YouTube commenter wrote, “I choked on my drink when he said protect both sides,” and another said, “Puts a whole new meaning to ‘both sides.’”
A third called it “a very embarrassing moment for the FBI.”
Others accepted Schiff’s framing or questioned the policy itself. One quote of the X post read, “I just wonder WHO HE WANTS TO HIRE THAT HAVE BEEN CONVICTED of THESE ISSUES.”
A separate group pushed back on Schiff. On X, one user wrote, “Shifty Schiff, biggest liar in Congress,” and another said, “We all loved watching you get the smackdown.” A third replied, “The Senate has no hiring standards at all, fortunately for @SenAdamSchiff.”
Some discussion of the underlying hearing was more mixed. One YouTube viewer said it “hurts having to defend him,” but argued Patel “said that somebody could be trafficked into it & he is right.” Another called Schiff’s clip “just a deflection.”
For now, the clip has become another flashpoint in the fight over Patel’s leadership of the FBI. Online, the argument remains split between those who see a serious drop in hiring standards and those who say Schiff is misstating a policy aimed at trafficking victims.
