Kash Patel and Sen. Chris Van Hollen Agree To Take Side-By-Side AUDIT Test

FBI Director Kash Patel clashed with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday over reporting that Patel drinks excessively and was difficult to reach, and the exchange ended with both men agreeing to take an alcohol “audit” test “side by side.”

“Fiery exchange over Kash Patel drinking allegations 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 that staff have found him unreachable at times "unequivocally, categorically false”

CBC

Van Hollen told Patel, “Yesterday, @FBIDirectorKash told me he’d take the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test if I did. Well, here’s mine,” posting his completed AUDIT results on Wednesday.

CBC

Patel denied the allegations and said, “It’s a total farce. I don’t even know where you get it from,” while Van Hollen pressed him with the claim that “If true, they represent a gross dereliction of your duty.”

The dispute also turned to a bar-tab fight in Washington, D.C., where Patel said, “The only person that ran up a $7,000 bar tab in Washington, D.C., at the Lobby Bar was you,” and Van Hollen responded that his campaign paid for an after-hours holiday reception.

The test itself is described as AUDIT, a 10-question survey about alcohol consumption, and Van Hollen’s spokesperson said the senator “expects him to follow through.”

Patel and Van Hollen traded accusations that escalated beyond the hearing, with Patel telling Van Hollen, “The only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang-banging rapist was you.”

Van Hollen countered that Patel’s claims were “false,” and after Patel posted what appeared to be a bill on X, Van Hollen replied, “You got me, I catered a holiday reception for my staff with campaign — not taxpayer — dollars! Now let’s see your receipts. #ReleaseTheTab.”

Floridian Press

The confrontation referenced Van Hollen’s April meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man the Trump administration accused of being a member of MS-13, which Garcia denies, and NBC News reported that Salvadoran officials served Van Hollen and Abrego drinks that looked like margaritas.

Patel’s denials were tied to legal action, as he filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic and called the magazine’s reporting “unequivocally, categorically false.”

In the same hearing context, Van Hollen said, “When your private actions make it impossible for you to perform your public duties, we have a big problem,” linking the dispute to Patel’s ability to protect “the American people.”

Democrats pressed Patel to complete AUDIT after The Atlantic reporting, and the House Judiciary Committee demanded he take the 10-question survey, while the Democratic lawmakers called on Rep. Jim Jordan to tell Patel that “the committee will be requiring him to appear at a hearing in person and under oath.”

“Published on By Kash Patellost his cool with SenatorChris Van Hollen(D-Md”

Globe Magazine

MS NOW quoted Van Hollen saying Patel flew “off the handle” during the Tuesday hearing, and Van Hollen said Patel “uttered a bunch of provable lies” after being questioned about “episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”

Patel’s posture remained that the allegations were fabricated, with the Daily Beast describing him as agreeing to take the audit test after denying reports of excessive drinking and unexplained absences while serving as Donald Trump’s FBI chief.

The Hill reported that Van Hollen answered the AUDIT survey with alcoholic drinks “two to three times a week” and “never” to all other questions, while the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After the online back-and-forth, Van Hollen told NBC News that “his behavior today absolutely did,” and the exchange left the AUDIT results as the latest public marker in the dispute over Patel’s fitness to serve as FBI Director.