WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Darline Graham (R-South Carolina) today questioned Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Kash Patel at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Senator Darline Graham commended Director Patel and the men and women at the FBI for their diligence in confronting dangerous criminals, violent nihilist online networks, and sanctuary cities.
GRAHAM: “Back home, law and order isn’t a slogan. It’s just common sense.”
On the FBI’s crackdown on violent criminals, child predators, and human traffickers:
GRAHAM: “I specifically want to highlight a South Carolina family whose experience illustrates [the online child sexual exploitation] crisis. In 2022, 17-year-old Gavin Guffey was the victim of an online sextortion scheme that led to him committing suicide. His father, South Carolina Representative Brandon Guffey, has turned his family’s unimaginable grief into action by passing Gavin’s Law, which strengthens South Carolina’s penalties for sexual extortion, especially involving minor victims. But the story did not end at the state line. The FBI and the federal prosecutors continued pursuing Gavin’s exploiter and identified a 24-year-old Nigerian national. In January 2025, he was extradited to the United States and is facing serious federal charges, including child exploitation resulting in death and cyberstalking resulting in death. Director Patel, no American family should have to suffer in the way that Brandon Guffey and his family have suffered. We cannot bring Gavin back, but we can make sure that his death leads to stronger investigations, faster international cooperation, greater accountability for predators, and better protections for our children online.” https://youtu.be/ToqgzUKjVMU?si=VPqTfE5h4fFRHUg1&t=243
On deporting illegal aliens and enforcing federal immigration law:
GRAHAM: “We need to do everything in our power to secure the border and deport criminal illegal aliens so that the FBI can focus on its law enforcement mission. Some public officials, like California Governor Gavin Newsom, do not seem to agree. That’s why I am a co-sponsor of the End Sanctuary Cities Act, which would impose criminal penalties on public officials who obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration law. A secure border, a secure interior, and a focused FBI go hand in hand.” https://youtu.be/ToqgzUKjVMU?si=gGKdkdrTX06hBcXY&t=133
GRAHAM: “Do sanctuary state [and city] policies make the FBI’s job more difficult and more dangerous, and would a bill like the End Sanctuary Cities Act help improve public safety?”
DIRECTOR PATEL: “Absolutely, Senator. We need that bill to be able to break through the logjam that’s been created by sanctuary city policies who harbor not only just illegal immigrants, but violent offenders, gangbangers, drug traffickers, firearms transporters, and even domestic terrorists and also child rapists. So anything that we can do legislatively to give the FBI more authorities to go in there and root out evil is something I’ll support.” https://youtu.be/ToqgzUKjVMU?si=9bAcLqiEOrSyqU_y&t=350
Watch the full video HERE.