A Democratic senator has accused the FBI director of being so drunk that bureau briefings had to be rescheduled so he could sleep it off, an allegation he did not answer in the room.
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii made the claim during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Tuesday, 15 September 2026, in a closing statement running through what she called a long and growing list of failings. The hearing was an oversight hearing on the Federal Bureau of Investigation featuring FBI Director Kash Patel.