Kash Patel lobs false claims about top Democrat as they spar over allegations of FBI chief’s excessive drinking on the job – as it happened

Kash Patel denies excessive drinking allegations as ‘total farce’ in Senate hearing There are hardly enough hours in the day to unpack all the false statements made by Trump administration officials, but it appears that the FBI director, Kash Patel, told a particularly egregious lie during his Senate testimony on Tuesday when he claimed that Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen has a documented drinking problem. When Van Hollen asked the FBI director about reports that his drinking had interfered with his job performance, Patel tried to turn the tables by shouting a clearly prepared series of false allegations about the Maryland senator and alcohol. Patel started by claiming the senator had been caught on camera drinking “margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar”, a reference to photographs Van Hollen has credibly described as a hoax staged by an aide to El Salvador’s far-right president, Nayib Bukele. Patel then claimed that documents filed by the senator’s office showed that Van Hollen “ran up a $7,000 bar tab in Washington DC at the Lobby Bar”. “The only individual in this room that has been drinking on taxpayer dime during the day is you,” Patel shout