FBI Director Kash Patel appears to be backtracking on comments he made earlier this week that the Trump administration’s 2026 budget request was insufficient for the agency, telling senators Thursday that the FBI would “make the mission work on whatever budget we’re given.”

“My view is that we will make and agree with this budget as it stands and make it work for the operational necessity of the FBI,” Patel told members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Thursday.

“As the head of the FBI, I was simply asking for more funds because I can do more with more money,” he added, referring to comments he made at a House hearing just one day before, during which he told members that he wanted more for the agency than what the Trump administration asked for in the president’s fiscal 2026 budget request.

In the presidential budget request released last Friday, the administration notes a proposed cut of $545 million as part of an effort to “reform and streamline the FBI.” Trump administration officials say the request was aimed at “cutting FBI D.C.........

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