MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace was shocked by FBI Director Kash Patel’s testimony on Tuesday, even under what she described as crumbling circumstances of normalcy under President Donald Trump.

On Deadline: White House, Wallace opened the show with Patel’s fiery testimony during the day, first playing his tense back-and-forth with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on reports about his alcohol use affecting his job performance. Patel has denied that this is reality and is suing The Atlantic in a report detailing these accusations.

During his hearing, Patel dismissed reports about his alleged alcohol use as “total farce” and accused Van Hollen of “sipping margaritas” on the taxpayer’s dime.

Patel was referring to Van Hollen visiting Kilmar Abrego Garcia last year, after Garcia was temporarily deported from the United States. Van Hollen later said that the images of his meeting with Abrego Garcia in a casual setting over drinks were staged by the pro-Trump government in El Salvador.

Wallace called Patel’s hearing a “stark reminder that we do not live in normal times up on Capitol Hill today.”

She referred to Patel as a not “normal” or “routine” head of the FBI, preventing Tuesday’s hearing from being a straight forward event on the FBI’s budget.

“Extraordinary, extraordinary, even by today’s Trumpian reorganizing of what’s normal,” she said after playing Patel fighting with Van Hollen.

Wallace also played a clip of Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) questioning Patel on Atlantic reports about him gifting personalized bottles of bourbon to people.

“We need somebody at this agency who is focused on solving criminal cases, not passing out branded bourbon or jetting around the globe. Your job is to be reachable,” the senator told the FBI director. “And I know Senator Van Hollen asked you about this, but I got to say if you want to pass out liquor or pop bottles in a locker room, stick to podcasting, leave law and order to people who really do care about justice and appearances.”

Watch above via MS NOW.

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