FBI Director defends dropping bestiality as automatic disqualifier for agents
FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency removed bestiality from its list of automatic disqualifications to avoid penalizing trafficking victims, prompting bipartisan questioning in a Senate hearing.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that applicants will no longer be automatically disqualified for having engaged in bestiality, a change the agency says is intended to protect individuals who were coerced into the act by traffickers. Director Kash Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the policy revision was made “because we did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked.”
Senators from both parties pressed Patel for clarification. Republican Sen. John Kennedy asked why the bureau would consider bestiality at all, and Patel replied that the agency is not “into bestiality” but needed to ensure victims are not barred from service. Kennedy followed up, questioning whether a person who had sex with an animal could still become an FBI agent, to which Patel answered “No.”
The hearing also covered unrelated topics, including ongoing investigations into the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Goods, recent personnel changes at the bureau, and preparations for election security. Patel declined to comment on the investigations, citing their active status, and described the recent firings of some employees as “weaponized” actions against the federal government. Regarding the upcoming midterm elections, he said agents and intelligence analysts would be stationed in field offices for security purposes, while Democratic Sen. Peter Welch asked for a pledge that the FBI would not interfere with the electoral process. Patel responded, “I pledge unequivocally that I will not participate in your charade of lies.”