I was watching Kash Patel testify on Capitol Hill when he suddenly asked a question I wasn’t expecting.

Actually, it wasn’t a question. It was an accusation disguised as one.

Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont was pressing the FBI director about election interference, Trump and the upcoming midterms when Patel decided he’d heard enough.

“Are you done with your campaign ad?”

And then came the haymaker.

“I want to know how your wealth increased 4000% since you became a United States senator. That’s a magic act.”

Welch’s response?

“Mr. Patel, knock it off.”

I laughed.

Whatever else you think about Kash Patel, nobody is ever going to accuse the man of being boring at a congressional hearing.

But once you get past the fireworks, something much more interesting happened at that hearing.

Patel announced that the FBI had captured the tenth fugitive to cycle through its Ten Most Wanted list during his tenure.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley began by congratulating the FBI for nine captures.

Patel corrected him.

Ten.

The latest fugitive, captured in Venezuela, was being returned to the United States.

“That’s 10 of 10,” Patel said.

Now there’s a number I understand.

Ten wanted fugitives.

Ten captured.

Patel called it unprecedented in FBI history. Fox and CBS both reported the announcement from the hearing.

And that wasn’t the only number that caught my attention.

The FBI has also created a Most Wanted Fraudsters list, and Patel said six suspects from that initiative have already been captured.

The FBI says those six cases involve more than $2 billion in alleged fraud. The suspects had collectively been fugitives for roughly 5,000 days and were tracked across multiple continents.

One of the latest captures was Emylee Thai, arrested in Vietnam. The FBI alleges she was responsible for more than $100 million in Medicaid fraud.

Six fraud suspects.

More than $2 billion.

Multiple continents.

Those aren’t small numbers.
Which brought me to the question I asked on the air.

Have you heard about this?

I’m talking especially to the people who consume news all day.

Did you know the FBI says it had gone 10 for 10?

Did you know about the six wanted fraud suspects?

Did you know about the $2 billion?

Because I hadn’t seen anything approaching the attention devoted to Kash Patel’s snorkeling trip.

Oh yes.

The snorkeling.

Democrats questioned Patel about an underwater tour he took during a visit to Pearl Harbor. There were questions about his travel. Questions about his management. Questions about his politics. Questions about whether FBI agents might be sent to polling places.

And some of those are perfectly legitimate questions for the director of the FBI.

That’s what congressional oversight is for.

But surely catching fugitives is also relevant when the man sitting in front of you runs the FBI.

Surely fraud investigations are relevant.

Surely the bureau’s actual law-enforcement record belongs somewhere in the discussion.

You don’t have to like Kash Patel to report what his FBI is doing.

And you don’t have to accept every claim Patel makes about his own performance either. He described the FBI as producing the most prolific crime reduction in American history. There is a legitimate debate about how much credit any administration or FBI director deserves for falling crime rates, particularly because violent crime had already been declining.

Fine.

Have that argument.

That’s journalism too.

But first tell people what happened.

Instead, much of the hearing became another Washington food fight.

Welch worried about the FBI and elections. Patel accused Welch of lying.

Sen. Mazie Hirono demanded a response to a letter Patel said had already been answered publicly.

“It’s public. Go look it up,” Patel told her.

She said she assumed there was no response.

“That’s a lie,” Patel fired back.

This wasn’t exactly Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

It was more like somebody put C-SPAN and professional wrestling into the same blender.

And just when I’d had about enough of Washington, Karolos came to the rescue with perhaps his finest political proposal yet.

Kamala Harris and AOC.

One ticket.

Coast to coast.

California and New York.

The woman-power ticket.

I asked the obvious question about which one would be on top.

Karolos wisely decided to let them work that out themselves.

I told him I’d pay money to see that ticket.

I still would.

This came after Gavin Newsom told Jake Tapper he wouldn’t run for president if Kamala Harris runs.

Now I have yet another reason to encourage her.

Kamala, run.

Please.

Think of the possibilities.

And think of the money.

She could spend another billion dollars and, as we noted on the show, perhaps get nothing for it.

Money for nothing.

There may even be a song in there somewhere.
But back to Patel.

I don’t know whether you like him.

That’s not really my point.

The FBI director went before the Senate and announced results that, at minimum, deserve scrutiny and coverage: ten captures from the Ten Most Wanted list during his tenure and six captures from a new fraud initiative involving allegations totaling more than $2 billion.

Challenge his numbers. Check his claims. Ask him about elections. Ask him about his management of the FBI. Ask him about Pearl Harbor if you really can’t help yourself.

That’s what reporters and senators are supposed to do.

But when an FBI director says his bureau caught ten out of ten wanted fugitives, that’s news too.

You shouldn’t have to watch hours of a Senate hearing to find out.

— Bo Snerdley