In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing held on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned Trump’s FBI Director Kashyap Patel over his decision to modify FBI hiring standards by removing participation in bestiality as an automatic disqualifier for FBI job applicants, a change Patel said was intended to avoid disqualifying victims.
Pate: “It [the previous policy disqualifying people who participated in bestiality] automatically disqualified any individual who participated in either side of it. Obviously, we are never going to hire the criminals…”
Sen. Kennedy: “The bestiality? So, you disqualified the animal? I’m trying to understand why you did this.”
You can see a longer clip of the full encounter here.