FBI Director Kash Patel broke with the Trump administration Wednesday over a budget proposal that would dramatically slash funding for the bureau, telling lawmakers, “We need more than what has been proposed.”
The 2026 budget proposal released on Friday calls for a funding cut of more than $500 million for the FBI as part of what the White House said was a desire to “reform and streamline” the bureau and reduce “non-law enforcement missions that do not align” with the priorities of President Donald Trump. He warned that such a cut would be harmful for the FBI as it reorients priorities to focus on violent crime.
