At a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel defended the bureau’s new policy that doesn’t automatically disqualify job applicants if they have a history of bestiality.Stand-up comedian, actor, and writer Patton Oswalt mocked Patel in a Threads post, using wordplay on “rough” and replacing it with “ruff.”“Kash Patel having a ruff day.”Author Jonathan Edward Durham went along further and wrote in the comments:“He really screwed the pooch.”Patton Oswalt ridiculed the FBI Director. (Image via Threads)Podcaster Kacee Allen also called Kash Patel’s view of bestiality the “craziest thing” in a tweet:“What on earth is wrong with this guy? Might be the craziest thing I’ve heard all year.”At one point in the hearing, Patel, 46, not only defended the bureau’s hiring policy but also the “victims” of bestiality.“Applicants who have engaged in bestiality mean they were victims of bestiality because they were forced to do so. At this FBI, we are not going to criminalize and prevent victims from serving the United States of America and the premier law enforcement agency in the world.”Exploring everything Kash Patel said about bestiality at his Senate hearingSenator John Kennedy, 74, asked Kash Patel about the changes the bureau implemented under his leadership, including the “certain things” that would “disqualify” an individual from being an FBI agent. Patel responded:“Simply that if you were a victim of some of these vicious crimes and wanted to serve this country, the FBI is now, for the first time, considering your application and not disqualifying you.”When asked, “victims of what?” Kash clarified that they included prostitution, trafficking, and bestiality, among other things. He said that the regulation, before he became a director, stated:“It automatically disqualified any individual who participated in either side of it. Obviously, we are never going to hire the criminals…”John Kennedy enquired:“Either side of what? The bestiality? So, you disqualified the animal?”Kash Patel clarified:“Well, I don’t think — we have great canines, but we’re not going to disqualify them.”Senator Kennedy asked the FBI Director why he would “get into bestiality” when the agency was already having a “tough time” attracting “good quality agents we can all trust,” because many applicants think that their “political point of view” matters when joining the bureau.“We are not into bestiality,” Patel asserted.He also explained that a person would be disqualified if they “voluntarily” engaged in bestiality, but if they were “trafficked into it,” they were “victims.” Kash claimed human traffickers didn’t always do it for prostitution but for “degrading acts of all kinds,” including bestiality, which shouldn’t disqualify them from becoming law enforcement officers.When John Kennedy asked why Kash Patel didn’t reject whoever recommended excusing bestiality from the FBI recruitment process, the latter explained that his “initial response” was of disdain. However, when he was shown “evidence” of how some individuals who were “forced” wanted to join the bureau, he thought they should be “considered.”The Louisiana Republican Senator concluded the conversation with a final question:“You’re not telling us today that if a human being had s*x with an animal, they can still be an FBI agent, are you? They can’t be, can they?”When Kash Patel responded, “They cannot,” John Kennedy further clarified, “They ought to be in jail, right?” Patel replied, “They all are!”Illinois Senator Dick Durbin also posed a question about the policy change and Kash Patel doubled down by stating:“I eliminated the bureaucracy that prevented these great Americans from serving, or at least being considered to serve.”Since Trump began his presidency for the second term in early 2025, Patel has served as the FBI Director. Between February and April of last year, he was the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.