The entire FBI Most Wanted list has been captured for the first time, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Tuesday, marking a milestone he revealed during heated Senate testimony where he also confirmed the bureau has purged every official involved in the Biden-era memo targeting traditional Catholics.
“We’ve captured 10,” Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee, correcting Chairman statements that nine of the top 10 fugitives had been apprehended. The weekend arrest completed the sweep.
But the fugitive roundup wasn’t the only bombshell. Patel detailed a systematic housecleaning at the FBI, removing personnel responsible for what he called political weaponization under the previous administration.
“We looked at every individual that was involved with things like the Catholic memo, or the intentional malfeasance of intelligence collection, intelligence production, and made sure those individuals are no longer at the FBI,” Patel testified in response to questioning from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
The Catholic memo, issued in January 2023 during the Biden administration, targeted a Latin Mass congregation in Richmond, Virginia, and referenced “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology.” The FBI later rescinded the document after public outcry.
“It’s that simple. If you participate in that sort of conduct, we removed you,” Patel said.
The director, who noted he was personally targeted by law enforcement weaponization, said internal accountability was essential. “The FBI needs to be accountable to the American citizens and not just execute and enforce the law,” he explained.
Patel also touted historic crime reduction numbers. “In 2025, according to the Uniform Crime Report, we delivered the largest reduction in the murder rate in the history of America,” he said during opening remarks. The bureau captured more than two and a half times the number of top 10 most wanted fugitives compared to the prior administration.
The hearing also touched on an ongoing federal investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., raised a federal grand jury indictment charging the liberal organization with wire fraud, false statements, and money laundering offenses.
According to Schmitt, the indictment accuses the SPLC of funding the Ku Klux Klan and similar extremist groups. Federal prosecutors allege the organization was “propping up extremism and misleading its donors” while claiming it paid informants to fight extremism. Prosecutors also allege the SPLC opened fictitious bank accounts to funnel money to extremist organizations.
The SPLC has called the case meritless and politically motivated.
“There have been multiple indictments alleging that, as the indictments say, the SPLC utilized sources that they had hired to go into the very networks that they were supposed to stand up against and funneled fraudulent donations to submerge their activities,” Patel testified. He confirmed the FBI probe “is very much ongoing.”
When Schmitt asked whether individuals could face personal accountability if evidence establishes knowing participation in fraud, Patel confirmed they could.
The hearing grew contentious when Ranking Member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called Patel the “least qualified and most partisan FBI Director in our nation’s history.” Durbin criticized the Justice Department’s handling of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Patel fired back, noting the Trump administration released more Epstein information than any previous administration. When Durbin pointed out Congress had to pass a law requiring the release, Patel responded: “You could have passed that law in the Biden administration. You didn’t. You had both majorities.”
Durbin offered no explanation for why Democrats failed to act when they controlled Congress.
Patel declined to discuss ongoing investigations in detail but made clear the bureau’s new direction: violent crime first, political games over.
