FBI Director Kash Patel denies drinking allegations in heated Senate exchange

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel angrily lashed out at a Democratic lawmaker at a budget hearing Tuesday, calling allegations that he drinks excessively on the job and has been unreachable to his staff at times “unequivocally, categorically false.”

“I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations and fraudulent statements from the media,” Patel told Sen. Chris Van Hollen during a testy exchange that began when the Maryland Democrat confronted him about a recent article in The Atlantic magazine that painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership of the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.

Patel has filed a $250 million lawsuit over the story. The Atlantic has said it stands by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the “meritless lawsuit.”

Patel shouted over Van Hollen and sought to turn the tables by accusing him of “slinging margaritas on the taxpayer dime” in El Salvador, a reference to a visit the Democrat paid last year to Kilmar Abrego Garcia while he was jailed there following his mistaken deportation to the country.

“The only person who has been drinking during the day on the taxpayer dime was you,” Patel said.

“Director Patel, come on,” Van Hollen said. “These are serious allegations that were made against you.”

He at one point asked Patel if he was willing to take a test meant to measure whether an individual has a drinking problem, prompting Patel to shoot back, “I’ll take any test you’re willing to take.”

The senator called Patel's claims of margaritas in El Salvador “provably false.” After last year's meeting, Van Hollen publicly accused El Salvador’s government of having misrepresented the nature of his encounter with Abrego Garcia, saying officials there had staged the meeting with drinks appearing to be alcohol and angled to set the meeting by a hotel pool.

The testy exchange occurred at an annual Senate subcommittee budget hearing featuring Patel and other senior law enforcement leaders. The director used the forum to tout what he described as major crime-fighting achievements since he took the position and received a friendly reception from Republican senators who praised his leadership.

Democrats, by contrast, pressed Patel on headline-generating travel that has blended his professional duties with private leisure — including a trip to the Winter Olympics in Italy, where he partied with the U.S. men's hockey team after their gold medal win — as well as the mass terminations of agents who worked on investigations into President Donald Trump.

“You attended the Olympics in Milan,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat. “How much did your trip cost and to what extent did that help you carry out your mission as director of the FBI?”

Patel responded that the FBI was responsible for security at the Olympics and asserted that his trip to Italy helped facilitate the transfer of a Chinese cybercriminal to U.S. custody, who had been detained by Italian authorities.

FBI director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration; the United States Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives the on Capitol Hill, Tuesday May 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speaks during the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration; the United States Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives the on Capitol Hill, Tuesday May 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FBI director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration; the United States Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FBI director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration; the United States Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Turkish delegation had visited an air base in northern Syria the day before it was hit by Israeli airstrikes, Syrian officials said.

The Israeli strikes hit the Abu Duhur base early Tuesday, hours after the delegation had left, causing damage but no casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Israel had attacked the base because Syria was “on the verge of breaching” an agreed-upon “status quo in security matters” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.

Two Syrian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly said the Turkish delegation had visited the air base in the northwestern province of Idlib on Monday to review rehabilitation work underway at the facility.

It was the first confirmation of a Turkish presence at the Abu Duhur base.

Turkish and Syrian officials have not publicly commented on Turkey's role there but have condemned the attack, as did Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey who also serves as special envoy to Syria, and a number of Arab countries.

Turkish officials on Wednesday did not comment on the reported presence of a Turkish military delegation. But Turkey’s communications directorate accused Netanyahu of making “untenable allegations ... intended to legitimize Israel’s unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” It alleged that Netanyahu aimed “to pursue expansionist and destabilizing policies in the region ahead of the elections in Israel.”

Turkey “will resolutely continue to cooperate with the Syrian Government on a legitimate basis for the establishment of peace, stability, and prosperity in Syria, and will never allow the destabilization of Syria,” it said.

The Abu Duhur air base lies at a strategic location near the borders between Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces. During the time of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, who was ousted by a rebel offensive in December 2024, MiG-23 and MiG-21 fighter jets and L-39 aircraft operated out of the base.

Turkey has been supporting Syria’s effort to rebuild its armed forces by training Syrian personnel at Turkish military schools and bases, and by supplying equipment and logistical support. Officials have not disclosed the types of equipment involved. The two countries signed an agreement last year that formalized their military cooperation.

Earlier this year, Syrian troops also took part in military exercises held in Turkey.

Turkish officials have repeatedly stated that Ankara does not consider Syria’s security separate from its own.

Israel, meanwhile, has remained suspicious of the new authorities in Damascus, led by former Islamist insurgents. Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has said repeatedly that he does not want a conflict with Israel.

Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria after Assad’s fall, mainly destroying assets of the Syrian army to keep them out of the hands of his successors. The Israeli military also seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria, which it continues to occupy.

The Israeli army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, on Wednesday toured the occupied area in Syria and told troops, “We will not allow hostile forces to establish themselves on our borders, and we will know how to use our operational capabilities precisely where and when needed.”

Turkey, a NATO member that also recently signed a defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, gave no indication that it would respond militarily to the Israeli strikes in Syria, but the incident added further strain to already tense Turkish-Israeli relations.

Turkey and Israel once were close allies, but the relationship has been marked by deep frictions under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s more than two-decade rule, despite brief periods of reconciliation. Erdogan is an outspoken critic of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, while Israel has been angered by Erdogan’s support for the Hamas militant group.

The fall of Assad’s government further strained their relations as the two rivals sought to curb each other’s influence in the neighboring country, with some analysts fearing that they could be headed toward a proxy war.

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Fraser reported from Ankara.

FILE - Decommissioned Syrian air force planes are seen at the Abu Duhur military air base east of Idlib, following the takeover of the area by Syrian opposition fighters on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam, File)