FBI Director Kash Patel clashed with a sitting US Senator over alleged problems of excessive alcohol use during a fiery hearing over the agency's budget on Tuesday.

Maryland Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen probed Patel about a report in The Atlantic, which alleged that the FBI director has a reputation for excessive alcohol use.

'I don't give a damn what you do on your own time and your own dime, unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities,' Van Hollen said.

The Atlantic published a report last month, which they have since been sued over, outlining that Patel has 'alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.'

Van Hollen then continued his line of questioning, adding that Patel 'cannot perform those public duties if you're incapacitated.'

He also added that there were 'reports of [Patel] being so drunk and so hungover that your staff had to force entry into your home.' 

The FBI Director fired back, telling Van Hollen that the 'only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador and the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang banging [sexual offender]' was him, in reference to a trip the Senator took to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

The charge is in reference to a photograph of the meeting between Van Hollen and Abrego and Garcia showing alcoholic beverages. Van Hollen insisted at the time neither man touched the drinks, saying Salvadoran officials staged the photo by placing the glasses on the table mid-meeting in order to undermine the process.

Van Hollen flew to El Salvador in April of 2025 to visit deported Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who crossed into the US illegally before settling down in Maryland and marrying an American woman.  

The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia in March of 2025 because of his alleged ties to the violent gang MS-13, though the White House later admitted his removal came as a result of an 'administrative error,' and courts ordered that he be returned to the U.S.

Amid the controversy over whether Abrego Garcia's deportation was lawful, documents revealing that he had beaten his American wife and was suspected by Maryland authorities to be an active MS-13 member surfaced.

Patel was also asked by Van Hollen if he would commit to taking 'audit test that members of the military take to determine whether they have a drinking problem,' to which he replied that he would if the Senator took it with him.

Regarding the '[sexual offender]' accusation hurled by Patel, Abrego Garcia has no charge of [sexual assault] against him, let alone a conviction.

In April of 2025, the Daily Mail exclusively obtained a copy of a 2021 petition for protection from domestic violence filled out by Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez that the alleged MS-13 member beat his wife multiple times over the years.

In November 2020, Abrego Garcia hit Vasquez with his work boots, and in August 2020 he hit her in the eye, causing her to get a black eye, according to her petition.

That same day Abrego Garcia started driving quickly, scaring his wife, as their one-year-old was in the back seat. 'In the recording you can hear him yelling, insulting me, driving extreme fast,' Vasquez told authorities.

Later that day she left the residence they shared after being 'afraid to be close to him,' her request continued.

Then in May 2021, after an argument at a gas station, the Salvadorian migrant punched and scratched his wife, 'leaving me bleeding,' Vasquez wrote.

'I have multiple photos/videos of how [violent] he can be and all the bruises he has left me,' she wrote.

Despite her past testimony against her husband, Vasquez had been publicly supporting her husband amid his detention in El Salvador, calling for him to not be used in 'political games.'

Donald Trump took a brutal swipe at Kash Patel over the FBI director's love of 'publicity' following a string of high-profile scandals.

The President addressed guests and top advisers in the White House Rose Garden on Monday evening, where he gave a special shoutout laced with a subtle jab.

'Does he get enough publicity?' Trump said in a brutal five-word dig at the FBI boss. 'If you could get a little more publicity, it would be very...' the President added before cutting his comment short with a giggle.

The jab comes as the FBI director battles a tidal wave of unflattering headlines centered on his drinking habits, kicked off by an April Atlantic exposé alleging 'excessive drinking and unexplained absences.'

Patel's late-night partying and drinking reportedly forced aides scrambling to push back morning meetings.

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