“We don’t have an FBI director, we have a lackey here," Booker told Chairman Chuck Grassley, as Patel looked on.

Booker continued of the FBI Director: "[He's] using govern—and frankly, he’s not even a good lackey, he’s an incompetent lackey. He’s like an 18-year-old kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of. Doing keg stands and chugging with friends. He’s an embarrassment to the agency and wouldn’t qualify, even, to be an FBI agent."

The senior U.S. Senator from New Jersey also referred to Patel as a "thug."

“What is bad is not just that we have a rogue FBI agent intimidating reporters, what’s bad is that we have Republicans in the Senate enabling him to go without any objective oversight or transparency or accountability!” Booker added.