The View co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Joy Behar have heavily criticized Kash Patel after the FBI director was questioned in front of the Senate over the agency’s investigation into the death of Charlie Kirk and the status of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Patel was involved in a heated exchange with California Senator Adam Schiff, during which he branded the Democratic politician “a political buffoon at best.”
During Wednesday’s episode of The View, Hostin, who is a former former federal prosecutor, was asked about Patel’s credibility and responded: “I don't know that he has credibility anyway because he's just not qualified for this position.”
She continued: “I think the manner with which he conducted himself in front of the Senate Committee was despicable. That's just not how you conduct yourself, especially if you're the FBI director. I worked at the Department of Justice, I've known FBI directors. This is unbecoming of the office.”
As for Schiff's line of questioning, which concerned the Senator pushing back against Patel’s claim that Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer in August from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas had been decided by the Bureau of Prisons, Hostin said: "I prosecuted sex crimes in particular. There's no way the Bureau of Prisons, on its own — on its own — moved Ghislaine Maxwell to a less restrictive security prison. It does not happen."
She added: “Someone had to request that transfer. Let me also say this: the timing of that move was strange, at best. In August 2025 she was moved from the federal corrective institute in Tallahassee, Florida to the federal prison camp in Texas. That is a low security camp. The transfer happened about a week after Maxwell met for two days with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche regarding the Jeffrey Epstein case.
“Now you mean to tell me that that transfer had nothing to do with her cooperation, and what she said in the Epstein case? We are not stupid!” Hostin’s statement was met with loud applause, as she continued: “This is a pedophile, a pedophile, who ruined the lives of young girls, young women. How dare Kash Patel, as the FBI director, sit in front of the American people and elected Senators and behave himself that way, and basically lie.”
Later, Joy Behar added, “I feel like we're trapped in a bad movie” to cheers of agreement.
“Like, you've got these incompetent people running the government, and we're like a bunch of sitting ducks,” continued Behar. “There's no end to the incompetency that we are experiencing as Americans... The elephant in the room is that we're screwed.”
