FBI Director Kash Patel denies drinking allegations during Senate budget hearing
FBI Director Kash Patel holds a news conference at Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, DC, on April 27, 2026. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — FBI Director Kash Patel sparred with the Senate Appropriations Committee’s top Democrat over the director’s alleged questionable behavior when Patel appeared before the panel for a budget hearing on Tuesday.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking member of the committee, addressed reports of Patel’s alleged misuse of FBI resources and a story in The Atlantic that alleged he has had “bouts of excessive drinking” and job performance issues.
“What we are learning about what’s happening at the FBI is anything but normal,” Van Hollen said. “Director Patel, as you ask for more taxpayer resources, we cannot look away from the credible, extremely troubling reports about your misconduct at the FBI.”
Patel said last month that he’s “never been intoxicated on the job,” following the report. Patel sued The Atlantic over the article, demanding $250 million in damages.
Van Hollen later grilled Patel on the report asking Patel if, per The Atlantic report, he had “episodes of excessive drinking.”
Patel shot back, calling the report a “total farce.”
In a heated exchange, Patel then claimed without evidence that Van Hollen was “slinging margaritas” just over a year ago with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant who the government said in court was erroneously deported to El Salvador.
The moment is a reference to when Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia, who had been deported against a judge’s orders to the notorious CECOT prison. At the time, the senator said at one point during the meeting monitored by the El Salvador government, El Salvador officials put glasses on the table where they were meeting that appeared to have liquid inside with salt or sugar rims on top.
Van Hollen insisted that neither he nor Abrego Garcia touched those glasses and said it was clear they didn’t based on photos of the meeting taken by El Salvadoran officials.
Patel is appearing alongside other Department of Justice agency heads regarding the agencies’ 2027 budget requests. Patel is joined by Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole, United States Marshals Service Director Glady Serralta and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Robert Cekada.
When Patel last testified on Capitol Hill in September 2025, he faced questions from Democrats about the assassination of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk and his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) (R) speaks during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in the U.S. Capitol Building on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The House Oversight Committee is set to depose Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accountant on Wednesday, potentially shedding light on how the disgraced financier was able to manage his multimillion-dollar fortune.
Richard Kahn served as Epstein’s accountant for over a decade, and some of Epstein’s victims allege he played an instrumental role in creating the “complex financial infrastructure” that enabled the financier’s crimes.
Kahn has consistently denied any wrongdoing and says he was unaware of Epstein’s crimes while serving as his accountant. The closed-door deposition — a recording of which is expected to be released by the committee — could provide a rare window into how Epstein paid for his lavish lifestyle and funneled thousands of dollars to his victims.
While some of the recent witnesses deposed by the House Oversight Committee — including Bill and Hillary Clinton and retail billionaire Leslie Wexner — have drawn immense publicity, the interviews have largely left unchanged the public’s understanding of Epstein’s life and crimes.
By turning to Epstein’s former inner circle with Kahn and his longtime lawyer Darren Indyke — who is set to be deposed next week — the congressional investigation could offer a broader window into Epstein’s life, legal troubles and the complex web of bank accounts and shell companies that comprised his fortune.
Kahn began working as Epstein’s in-house accountant in the mid-2000s and worked for Epstein until his death in 2019. Kahn and Indyke served as the co-executors of his will, and Epstein planned to give Kahn $25 million, according to documents released by the Department of Justice earlier this year.
Following Epstein’s death, his estate was valued as much as $650 million, though the fortune has decreased over the last decade as the estate has paid out multiple settlements to Epstein’s victims.
Last month, Kahn and Indyke agreed to settle one of the last class-action lawsuits filed by victims of Epstein for at least $25 million without an admission of wrongdoing. The estate was last valued at approximately $127 million, according to a court filing last October.
The class action complaint alleged that both men were “personally essential” for Epstein by helping structure his back accounts, managing cash withdrawals, and creating a complex financial infrastructure “created to simply facilitate the illegal sex-trafficking venture.” The lawsuit also alleged that the men helped Epstein facilitate at least three “sham marriages” to obtain immigration status for Epstein’s victims.
“Knowing that they would earn millions of dollars in exchange for facilitating Epstein’s sex abuse and trafficking, Indyke and Kahn chose money and power over following the law,” the complaint said.
The settlement did not include an admission of wrongdoing and still needs to be approved by a federal judge. While both men were named as defendants in the case, the settlement will also be paid through Epstein’s trust, rather than by them directly.
“Neither of the co-executors has made any admission or concession of misconduct,” said Dan Weiner, an attorney for both men said in a statement to ABC News last month. “That is not surprising — not a single woman has ever accused either man of committing sexual abuse or witnessing sexual abuse, nor claimed at any time that she reported to them any allegation of Mr. Epstein’s abuse.”
Lawmakers last year began increasing their scrutiny of both Kahn and Indyke following a report in the Wall Street Journal that both men were never questioned by law enforcement investigating Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
“In light of the work Indyke and Kahn performed for Epstein and the outsize role they played in his personal and financial affairs; it is inexcusable that the DOJ and the FBI never questioned these individuals in connection with investigations into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell,” a group of five Democratic Senators wrote in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel last year. “A failure of this magnitude cannot be attributed to simple oversight or misunderstanding, and it is incumbent on Congress to understand why such a failure occurred.”
Documents released earlier this year offered some new details about Kahn’s role, managing expenses for Epstein and serving in roles in some of the companies that comprised the complex web of Epstein’s finances. According to a 2020 lawsuit against the Epstein estate filed by the U.S. Virgin Islands government, Epstein paid Kahn more than $10 million dollars between 2011 and 2019 for his services.
Ahead of the deposition, Daniel Ruzumna, an attorney for Kahn, declined to comment.
Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff Gen. Dan Caine speak at a briefing at the Pentagon, March 13, 2026. (ABC News)
(WASHINGTON) — Top Pentagon officials on Friday pledged to combat Iran’s efforts to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a dangerous choke point for the world’s oil supply as the critical waterway stands out as a key piece of terrain to control in the war.
Iran has said it will continue to seek to shut down the key waterway, which threatens the safe passage of oil tankers and could lead to devastating effects on fuel prices and other parts of the market. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical and narrow waterway through which about 20% of the world’s oil flows.
“It’s something we’re dealing with, we have been dealing with it, and [you] don’t need to worry about it,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing, asserting the U.S. won’t allow the strait to “remain contested.”
“The only thing prohibiting transit in the strait right now is Iran shooting at shipping. It is open for transit should Iran not do that. Now, there’s a reason why we chose as one of our primary objectives to destroy the navy. We understood the ability to interdict shipping is something Iran has done for 40 years. It’s key terrain,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said the Pentagon has options for the strait but did not provide detail on how it would be reopened. U.S. forces continue a relentless barrage of attacks on Iranian missile and drone position, as well as other tactical pain points the regime needs to threaten the strait.
Hegseth noted that Friday is set to see the largest volume of strikes against Iran so far. Some 15,000 targets have been attacked by the U.S. and Israel.
President Donald Trump said he would consider U.S. Navy escorts of commercial ships to help ease an escalating crisis of the world’s oil supply, but remained noncommittal on Friday.
“Well, we would do it if we needed to,” Trump told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade in a radio interview. “But, you know, hopefully things are going to go very well. We’re going to see what happens.”
The Strait of Hormuz is only about 30 miles wide and just 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. Iran has mines that it can use to litter the strait, which would be an enormously complicated obstacle for ships in the area that are also vulnerable to Iranian missile and drone attacks.
Hegseth told reporters there’s “no clear evidence” Iran has yet placed any mines.
Ships are also vulnerable to Iranian missile and drone attacks. Several commercial ships have been attacked in recent days, both in the strait and Persian Gulf.
While the U.S. develops plans for the strait, Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said the focus continues to be strikes — some of the heaviest so far — against missile and drone platforms as well as factories to cripple Iran’s ability to manufacture new weapons.
Escorting tankers through the strait would be a complex operation, one that the U.S. military doesn’t execute often at such a high level.
“It’s a tactically complex environment,” Caine told reporters Friday when asked about the timetable for possible U.S. Navy escorts. “Before I think we want to take anything through there at scale, we want to make sure that we do the work pursuant to our current military objectives to do, to do that safely and smartly. So, we’re continuing to develop options.”
The closest comparison is from December 2023 through mid-2025, when the U.S. Navy and partner forces, including the United Kingdom and France, escorted commercial vessels through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to shield them from Houthi drone and missile attacks.
The last time the U.S. Navy escorted ships through the Strait of Hormuz was in 1987 and 1988, during the so-called “Tanker War,” when Washington launched convoy operations to shield oil tankers caught in the maritime spillover of the decade-long Iran-Iraq conflict.
At least 140 service members have been wounded with the war as it approaches its second week. Thirteen service members have died. Six soldiers were killed by an Iranian drone strike at a U.S. tactical operations center in Kuwait, one was killed by an Iranian strike at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and six service members were killed when their refueling aircraft went down in friendly airspace in western Iraq.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
In this Aug. 8, 2020, file photo, an offshore petroleum drilling rig is shown in the Gulf of Mexico. (UIG via Getty Images, FILE)
(WASHINGTON) — A federal committee, comprised of senior Trump administration officials, voted unanimously to grant an exemption under the Endangered Species Act for oil and gas operations in the Gulf, citing national security concerns.
Environmental groups criticized the decision, warning that it could significantly jeopardize the conservation of dozens of threatened and endangered species in the region, including whales, sea turtles, whooping cranes and manatees.
The Endangered Species Committee convened Tuesday after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a national security finding that triggered the exemption process.
Under the Endangered Species Act, the Endangered Species Committee can grant rare exemptions when a federal action is of national or regional significance and the benefits of proceeding clearly outweigh the benefits of alternatives that would conserve the species. Economic, security and other public-interest factors can be considered alongside conservation mandates, though exemptions are rarely used.
“At the request of the Department of War, the Endangered Species Committee convened today to consider a national security exemption under the Endangered Species Act with respect to oil and gas activities in the Gulf of America,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a statement to ABC News.
“The Committee voted in favor of the national security exemption, acknowledging the critical risks involved in restricting oil and gas activities in the Gulf of America, and also recognizing that the action encompassed protective measures for endangered species.”
Officials emphasized that sustained oil and gas production in the region is essential to U.S. national security and economic stability, and cautioned that critical energy operations should not be jeopardized by the threat of disruptive litigation.
The committee, created in 1978, is very rarely convened due to the strict, narrow standards for its implementation. It has not met in more than 30 years, and this is the first time a national security justification has been used to convene the committee.
The Endangered Species Committee, composed of the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Army, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was fully present and voted unanimously in favor of granting the exemption.
“This meeting made clear that energy streams in the Gulf of America must not be disrupted or held hostage by ongoing litigation,” said Secretary Burgum. “Energy production in the Gulf of America is indispensable to our nation’s strength, safeguarding our energy independence and preventing reliance on foreign adversaries. Robust development in the Gulf keeps our economy resilient, stabilizes costs for American families and secures the U.S. as a global leader for decades to come.”
On March 13, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth notified Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, chair of the Endangered Species Committee, that a national security exemption under Section 7(j) of the Endangered Species Act, was necessary, prompting Secretary Burgum to publish a notice of the meeting in the Federal Register.
The meeting began with the defense secretary addressing the committee, stressing the importance of a steady, affordable domestic energy supply, which is currently under threat. He thanked the committee members for convening to discuss what he called “a matter of urgent national security.”
“This is not just about gas prices. It’s about our ability to power our military and protect our nation. That vital energy supply right now is under threat,” Hegseth said. “In January, well before Operation Epic Fury, the Department of the Interior notified the Department of War about ongoing Endangered Species Act litigation that threatened to halt oil and gas production in the Gulf of America.”
According to Hegseth, the litigation seeks to stop Gulf oil and gas activities rather than allow them to proceed alongside responsible endangered species protections.
“These legal battles waste critical government resources and make it impossible for energy companies to plan and invest in new projects. When development in the Gulf is chilled, we are prevented from producing the energy we need as a country and as a department,” Hegseth added. “The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s busiest oil route and recent hostile action by the Iranian terror regime highlights yet again why robust domestic oil production is a national security imperative.”
However, environmental groups argue this is not what the authors of this landmark law intended.
The Center for Biological Diversity sued Secretary Burgum on March 18, attempting to block the committee meeting, saying the government missed legal requirements, including filing deadlines, providing ample public notice, and having an administrative law judge preside. Following the committee’s decision, the group announced it will amend its existing lawsuit to challenge the defense secretary’s national security determination and the exemption.
“Americans overwhelmingly oppose sacrificing endangered whales and other marine life so the fossil fuel industry can get richer. This has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with Trump and his lackeys kowtowing to Big Oil,” Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
Environmental groups are particularly concerned about the Rice’s whale, which, according to NOAA, is one of the rarest and most endangered whales in the world and is found only in the Gulf.
NOAA Fisheries, which manages protections for marine species under the Endangered Species Act, listed the Gulf of Mexico Bryde’s whale as endangered in 2019 and, in 2021, updated its name to Rice’s whale to reflect the newly accepted scientific taxonomy and nomenclature of the species.
According to the Marine Mammal Commission, the most recent population estimates show there are only 51 Rice’s whales remaining.
The Rice’s whale’s small population, limited range and low genetic diversity make it highly vulnerable to threats such as vessel strikes and oil spills. NOAA says the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill exposed about 48 percent of its habitat in the eastern Gulf, likely causing a population decline of up to 22 percent and leaving lasting impacts on reproduction and growth.
The committee’s decision will not have any immediate effect, and lawsuits challenging the action could delay its implementation further. It could be several years before any future additional oil production tied to the decision is realized.
“The action could make it easier for applications to be granted for further oil and gas exploration and development in the Gulf; but it takes several years between the filing of an application and the production of the first barrel of oil,” said Michael Gerrard, a professor at Columbia Law School and the faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. ”No court has ordered oil and gas production to be shut down in the Gulf, and such an order seems very unlikely.”
