WE CAUGHT 'THEM' — FBI Director Kash Patel Announces Major Arrest
Patel Says This Country Has Dramatically Increased Its Spying on the U.S.
Before the hearing devolved into a clown show staring at the panel’s Democrats, FBI Director Kash Patel dropped a chilling update regarding a growing national security threat to the United States.
Foreign intelligence services are expanding their espionage and other clandestine operations inside the United States, with China presenting the most significant counterintelligence challenge, Patel told the Senate this week.
Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patel said the FBI has intensified efforts to identify and disrupt foreign intelligence operatives associated with China, Russia, and Iran as those governments become increasingly aggressive in targeting U.S. institutions, technology, and national security information.
China remains the bureau’s primary counterintelligence concern, Patel said, while Russia and Iran also continue to conduct significant intelligence operations targeting the United States.
“Our adversaries, including Russia, the PRC, and Iran, continue to undermine our core institutions, and they are becoming more aggressive and more capable,” the bureau has noted in congressional testimony describing the threat.
But instead of focusing on the threats to Americans, ranking Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois and other Democratic senators challenged Patel over personnel cuts, changes to FBI hiring standards, and allegations that the bureau has become politicized under his leadership.
Still, Patel told lawmakers that the FBI recorded 72 counterintelligence arrests during fiscal 2026 through the date of his testimony, representing a 9% increase over the comparable previous period.
The bureau also coordinated the removal of 80 suspected foreign intelligence threats from the United States, according to figures Patel presented to Congress, a 125% increase from the previous period.
China accounted for a significant share of the FBI’s activity.
Patel said approximately 60 of 130 counterintelligence arrests during the previous 18 months involved China-related espionage or other alleged illegal activity. Earlier this year, the FBI told Congress it had coordinated the removal of 62 foreign intelligence threats through its China program alone.
The FBI has active China-related counterintelligence investigations throughout its network of 55 field offices, according to previous testimony from Patel.
Federal officials say the Chinese government uses a wide range of methods to obtain sensitive information, including traditional intelligence officers, cyber operations, recruitment of insiders and efforts to acquire American intellectual property and emerging technologies.
The bureau has also accused Chinese-linked actors of targeting universities, corporations, government agencies and current and former members of the U.S. military.
“In February, the FBI arrested a former U.S. Air Force pilot accused of supplying unauthorized defense information to Chinese military aviators — a betrayal that put both our service members and our national security at risk,” he said.
One major area of concern is economic espionage.
In January, the FBI secured what it described as its first artificial-intelligence-related economic espionage conviction after a former Google engineer was accused of stealing AI trade secrets for the benefit of companies in China.
The bureau has also pursued cases involving alleged efforts to smuggle biological materials into the United States. Patel previously told lawmakers that seven Chinese researchers had been charged in such cases, with five subsequently deported.
Russia remains another major counterintelligence concern.
Federal authorities have repeatedly accused Russian intelligence services of conducting cyberattacks, recruiting individuals with access to sensitive information and attempting to influence political and public debate in the United States.
Iran, meanwhile, has been the focus of heightened FBI attention because of alleged cyber operations, intelligence collection and threats targeting U.S. officials and other individuals.
The FBI created an Iran Threats Mission Center to coordinate counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cyber investigations involving Tehran, the Washington Times reported.
Patel argued that the increase in arrests and removals demonstrates that the bureau has placed greater emphasis on counterintelligence operations since he took over as director.
He told senators that foreign espionage activity remains at unusually high levels and maintained that the FBI is uniquely positioned to confront the threat because it possesses both intelligence-gathering and law-enforcement authorities.
The oversight hearing also featured sharp disagreements over Patel’s leadership of the bureau.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, highlighted FBI statistics showing increases in several categories of arrests and defended Patel’s record since becoming director.
Letitia 'No One's Above the Law' James Just Got Sued And You Won't Stop Clapping
Letitia ‘No One’s Above the Law’ James Just Got Sued And You Won’t Stop Clapping
New York Attorney General Letitia James loves to sermonize that “No one is above the law,” but her record shows she really means “No one named Trump is above my political agenda.” Her entire campaign was a single-issue crusade built on the promise to “Get Trump,” and she delivered by filing a bizarre, victimless “fraud” case against him that even the banks involved openly rejected. Not one financial institution claimed harm. Not one lender said they wouldn’t do business with him again.
But that didn’t stop Judge Arthur Engoron—whose bias was obvious from the bench—from imposing an eye-watering, politically convenient fine of nearly half a billion dollars. It was so grotesquely disproportionate that an appeals court finally tossed it in August, delivering a much-needed reality check to James’s lawfare spectacle.
That’s Letitia James in a nutshell—always pushing the ethical limits, always using the weight of her office to intimidate anyone she marks as a political foe. Bullying isn’t an unfortunate byproduct of her approach; it is her approach.
So it’s hardly shocking that a school board chair in New York is now suing the attorney general, accusing James of threatening to oust board members who refused to bow to the progressive orthodoxy on allowing biological men into women’s sports:
The alleged threats came in a “guidance letter” [from James] that warned of the removal of any school board member who uses the wrong pronoun for a trans person, or if they allow students to publicly speak out at school board meetings about their fears and discomfort with student trans athletes using the wrong locker room for their biological sex.
A plaintiff in the suit, Massapequa Union Free School District Board Chair Kerry Wachter, alleged she was told that James’ office instructed her to mute and dismiss any board meeting speaker that expressed views opposing trans athletes in girls’ locker rooms and sports.
Massapequa Union Free School District Board Chair Kerry Wachter, alleged she was told that James' office instructed her to mute and dismiss any board meeting speaker that expressed views opposing trans athletes in girls' locker rooms and sports.
Wachter says James’ intimidation tactics are designed to intimidate her and others into silence:
“They’re saying if we allow this discussion in our board meetings, she can come in and remove us from the board,” Wachter told Fox News Digital. “They want me to stop public comment and stop them from speaking.”
Wachter added that trans students were not being directly named in any board meetings, and conversations were only based around the feelings and concerns of female students.
James claimed that school board members can be removed when “they willfully neglect their duty or violate legal protections for students in their districts.” She went on to add that the state’s Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) bars harassment and bullying.
Nevertheless, Attorney Kim Hermann from the Southeastern Legal Foundation has a note for James – There is an important constitutional principle known as the First Amendment.
“The First Amendment here reigns true, and so whether or not you have these state laws, a state cannot come in and just erase the First Amendment out of the Constitution,” Hermann said, per Fox News. “Whether or not statements and discussions about transgender and these different policies actually violate those state laws is absolutely irrelevant for what we’re talking about in this lawsuit.
James has shown time and again that she’s not an impartial public servant but a partisan enforcer, eager to weaponize her office against anyone who lands on her enemies list. She doesn’t just stretch her authority — she twists it into a political bludgeon.
If there’s any justice left in New York, this lawsuit will stick and finally force some accountability. Frankly, it’s long past time someone pushed back.
