The Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on FBI director nominee Kash Patel has adjourned.

Chairman Chuck Grassley lauded Patel's performance under a barrage of tough questioning and concluded the hearing.

Sen. Adam Schiff railed against reports that FBI director nominee Kash Patel pleaded the Fifth Amendment during his testimony before a grand jury.

"He may be the first nominee for FBI director in history who felt it necessary to plead the fifth," Schiff (D-Calif.) complained.

Schiff argued that President Trump tapped Patel to ensure there'd be fewer guardrails on him in his second administration.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) drew attention to a SpaceX affiliate being discovered in the FBI director's office.

"Do you want somebody like Elon Musk peering over your shoulder, telling you what to do about personnel?" Welch asked FBI director nominee Kash Patel. "He has no basis."

"No," Patel said.

FBI director nominee Kash Patel declared that he won't lie for President Trump after being pressed by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).

"No," Patel said when asked.

Booker homed in on whether Patel was truthful when he was asked about Trump's declassification orders during his testimony before a grand jury investigating the Mar-a-Lago document case.

During that testimony, Patel reportedly pleaded the Fifth Amendment.

Patel has carefully refrained from committing to releasing that testimony, professing that he believes a court order to do so. Patel has told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Trump declassified documents, but he's not sure if they were the ones in the Mar-a-Lago case.

Without court authorization, FBI director nominee Kash Patel says he is unable to release the grand jury testimony about President Trump's Mar-a-Lago document case.

"That's been my understanding, yes," Patel told Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) when asked.

Democrats in the hearing have tried to claim that Patel has the ability to release the testimony, something that a source close to the process have told The Post is false.

FBI director nominee Kash Patel hit back at a question from Sen. Amy Klobuchar implying that he claimed on a podcast Capitol police lied about aspects of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

"That's a general statement and a mischaracterization of what I said," Patel shot back. "I encourage you to read the rest of the interview. This is why snippets of information are often misleading and detrimental to this committee."

Klobuchar then remarked about how she wished she had five hours to go through that podcast interview in depth and more questions she has for him.

"You've got two minutes," Patel quipped.

"Wow," she replied.

FBI Director-designate Kash Patel "has no authority to release" a transcript of his grand jury testimony as part of special counsel Jack Smith's classified documents case against President Trump, a source close to the confirmation process insisted to The Post.

"Kash has no authority to release the transcript," this person said, referencing an earlier exchange between the nominee and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

"He doesn't even have a right to the transcript."

Sen. Ted Cruz claimed that he is frequently asked by his fellow Texans whether the US should simply abolish the FBI.

"And the answer to that [is] no," Cruz (R-Texas) told FBI director nominee Kash Patel. "The FBI has a mission: Stopping serial killers or human traffickers or child molesters or terrorists."

"But it says something that a sizable percentage of America has so lost faith in the bureau that they believe it should be shut down."

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse clashed with FBI Director-designate Kash Patel over whether he can approve the release of his grand jury testimony in President Trump's Mar-a-Lago document case.

"Senator, I authorize this committee to give whatever is appropriate and lawful," Patel told Whitehouse (D-RI).

Whitehouse countered that Patel was circling around the question before asking again: "Do you authorize us to get access to your testimony?"

"I authorize this committee to lawfully obtain any records that they say are appropriate," Patel shot back, declining to commit to releasing his testimony.

FBI Director-designate Kash Patel said that to restore public trust in the bureau, he will work to dramatically reduce crime in the country.

"Make sure we don't have 100,000 rapes in this country next year," Patel answered Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) about his plan to rebuild trust.

"Make sure we don't have 100,000 deaths from Chinese fentanyl and Mexican heroin, and make sure we don't have 70,000 homicides," he added.

"Those numbers need to be cut in half immediately, and the public will regain trust in the FBI and law enforcement."

Recently appointed Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) complained about the obstacles she faced from the federal government during her efforts to investigate a failed assassination attempt against President Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course last year.

She asked FBI Director-designate Kash Patel about his thoughts on her allegations of federal interference in that probe.

"Senator, off the top of my head, let me just say this: Law enforcement is not supposed to be territorial," Patel said. "Law enforcement is best done in this country when it's complementary. And it should have been done in that instance."

FBI Director-designate Kash Patel clarified his public claims about President Trump declassifying material during the uproar over the Mar-a-Lago classified document case.

"In my recollection, I said President Trump issued a declassification order to a large number of documents," said Patel, who was a senior adviser in the office of the director of national intelligence at the time.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked whether Patel had knowledge of documents declassified by Trump and later found at Mar-a-Lago.

"Senator, I'm not saying he declassified the Mar-a-Lago documents," the nominee answered. "I said the decision to declassify a large number of documents."