FBI Director Kash Patel shut down Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii when she questioned the fairness of requiring women to do “harsh pull-ups” to become FBI field agents.
“One question I had is that you are now requiring applicants to be able to do a certain kind of pull-ups, which a lot of women cannot because of physiological differences. Are you requiring these kinds of pull-ups?” Hirono asked Patel during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
“We are requiring a physical program at BFTC [Basic Field Training Course] at Quantico because FBI agents carrying guns in the field have to chase down bad guys and do really hard work,” the director answered.
The BFTC lasts 18 weeks and involves training in firearms, defensive tactics, interview and interrogation, and human intelligence, among other topics.
“So are you requiring these kinds of pull-ups?” Hirono followed up with Patel.
“We are requiring everyone to pass the 1811 standards of BFTC,” he answered.
Patel was referring to the Office of Personnel Management’s Criminal Investigation Series 1811 standards, which lay out the physical fitness requirements for those seeking law enforcement positions in the federal government that may involve field work. Not all jobs at the FBI have those physical requirements.
Mazie Hirono is BIG MAD that the FBI is requiring certain applicants to pass a fitness test, including pull-ups “which a lot of women cannot because of physiological differences?”
So men and women ARE different, senator? pic.twitter.com/DZLttvIgl8
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 16, 2025
“If you want to chase down a bad guy and put him in handcuffs, you better be able to do a pull-up,” Patel argued.
Hirono reiterated, “There are concerns about whether or not being able to do these kinds of harsh pull-ups is really required of FBI agents.”
“Doing one pull-up is not harsh,” Patel countered. “There are always medical exemptions to that.”
On its website, the FBI lays out its physical requirements, based on age and gender, to pass the FBI’s Physical Fitness Test for special agents.
Applicants must score a minimum of 12 points combined across five events: sit-ups, 300-meter sprint, push-ups, 1.5-mile run, and pull-ups.
Further, candidates must also score at least one point in each of the five events. For women, that means one pull-up, and for men, two of them.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Democrat Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey criticized Patel’s overall leadership of the bureau, calling him a “failure.”
“I believe you’re failing as a leader, and that your failure does have serious implications for the safety and security of Americans and our families. We’re more vulnerable to domestic and foreign attacks because of your failures of leadership. I don’t think you’re fit to lead the bureau,” the lawmaker argued.
Patel responded by listing numerous statistics to counter Booker’s allegation that the agency is failing under his watch.
The director pointed to 23,000 violent felons being arrested this year alone, which he called a double increase from this time last year. He further noted that 6,000 weapons have been seized, 1,500 child predators arrested, 300 human traffickers jailed, 4,700 missing children found, and 1,600 kilograms of fentanyl seized, a 25 percent increase from last year.
Corey Booker accused FBI Director Kash Patel of being a failed leader: “This might be the last time I have a hearing with you, cause I don’t think you’re long for your job.”
Patel was having NONE OF IT.
“If the FBI under my seven month leadership were failing…why do we… pic.twitter.com/2rCOjcoxci
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 16, 2025
Good for Patel that he stood strong against both Hirono and Booker.
It’s clear that he’s ending the FBI’s era of wokeism and getting the FBI back toward its primary mission of fighting crime instead of rounding up the Democrats’ political opposition — including President Donald Trump himself.
The agency appears to be becoming healthy again in more ways than one.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.