BS BULLETIN:
- Sen. John Kennedy pressed FBI Director Kash Patel Tuesday over changes to FBI hiring rules involving prostitution, theft and bestiality.
- Patel said the bestiality provision was intended to account for people who had been coerced into degrading sexual acts, including trafficking victims.
- Kennedy wasn’t finished: “So you disqualified the animal?”
Sen. John Kennedy managed to ask a question Tuesday that probably wasn’t on anyone’s FBI oversight hearing bingo card.
The Louisiana Republican grilled FBI Director Kash Patel about recently changed bureau hiring rules that no longer make certain past conduct — including bestiality — an automatic disqualifier in every case. And Kennedy wanted to know exactly how that works.
The issue stems from hiring guidance reportedly changed by the FBI earlier this year. CBS News reported that applicants who previously would have been automatically rejected for prostitution, stealing from an employer or bestiality may now receive case-by-case consideration under certain circumstances. For bestiality or animal cruelty, the reported policy allows an applicant to remain under consideration when the conduct occurred before age 18.
Kennedy zeroed in on that provision during Patel’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
@SenJohnKennedy (R-LA) also asks FBI director Patel on bestiality:
Kennedy: “The person who recommended it — why didn’t you just say, what planet did you parachute in from?”
Patel: “They then explained to me and showed me cases in which people were forced into it…” pic.twitter.com/VkbnMSjhu2— CSPAN (@cspan) September 15, 2026
Patel explained that the bureau was trying to distinguish willing criminal conduct from situations involving victims who had been coerced or trafficked. “In a lot of these cases, when human traffickers, who are some of the worst individuals on planet Earth, they don’t just traffic you for prostitution,” Patel said. “They traffic you for degrading acts of all kind, and they force you into that type of conduct.”
Kennedy appeared unconvinced that this completely answered the question. He presented Patel with a hypothetical applicant named “Joe.”
“If Joe participated in bestiality, not as the animal but as the human, don’t you think he ought to be disqualified?” Kennedy asked.
The senator also pressed Patel on how someone could “involuntarily” engage in the conduct. Patel returned to the trafficking explanation, arguing that victims can be forced into degrading sexual acts through no fault of their own.
That’s an important distinction — but it also exposes the controversy surrounding the written policy. Sources familiar with the FBI changes previously told CBS News that the eligibility rules themselves do not distinguish between applicants who were coerced into sexual activity involving animals and applicants who participated willingly.
The FBI has pushed back against suggestions that it is simply opening its doors to applicants with histories of criminal sexual behavior.
A bureau spokesperson previously said the changes were designed to recognize “rare exigent circumstances,” including applicants who suffered sexual abuse involving animals as children.
Kennedy nevertheless found one more way to summarize the situation.
“So you disqualified the animal?” he asked.
The exchange came as senators scrutinized broader changes to FBI hiring standards. Under the revised guidelines reported by CBS, applicants who paid for sex may avoid automatic disqualification if the conduct happened sufficiently long ago and falls within other restrictions. Theft from a previous employer may similarly receive case-by-case consideration when it occurred more than three years earlier.
Patel has argued more broadly that outdated requirements have caused the FBI to lose otherwise qualified applicants, while insisting the bureau is not lowering its standards.
Tuesday’s hearing demonstrated just how difficult some of those new distinctions can be to explain out loud.
Especially when John Kennedy gets the microphone.
MY QUICK TAKE
There are Senate hearings you watch for constitutional history.
And then there are Senate hearings where John Kennedy makes the FBI director clarify which participant in the bestiality scenario got disqualified.
C-SPAN remains undefeated.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Mediaite — Kennedy presses Kash Patel on dropping bestiality restrictions from FBI hiring requirements
- CBS News — FBI loosens hiring restrictions involving prostitution, theft and bestiality
- Forbes — Senators question FBI’s loosened hiring standards
- Senate Judiciary Democrats — Lawmakers demand answers on FBI hiring-standard changes
