A group of Senate Republicans is urging Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to provide a congressional briefing on the “progress and future priorities” of the joint task force established in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, which is responsible for investigating and prosecuting Hamas members and other actors involved in funding, supporting or perpetrating the attacks. 

The request, sent in a letter to the two Cabinet members on Thursday, was signed by Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ashley Moody (R-FL), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Ted Budd (R-NC), Katie Britt (R-AL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), James Risch (R-ID), John Hoeven (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).

“The events of October 7 underscored the ongoing and evolving nature of the global terrorist threat and the risks it poses to the United States, our allies, and our national security,” the letter states. “In recent weeks, a series of violent incidents and terror attacks with antisemitic motivations or links to extremist rhetoric, both abroad and here at home, have further reinforced the urgency of this work.”

The letter noted that while recent incidents “may not be directly connected to one another or to October 7,” they reflect a “broadening threat environment.” 

“The [Joint Task Force] serves an important role in targeting the areas where the United States has the greatest leverage: cutting off financing, disrupting logistical networks, enforcing legal accountability, and coordinating with international partners,” the letter states. “Although Hamas operates primarily overseas, it depends on transnational networks for funding, propaganda, and legitimacy, all of which intersect with U.S. financial systems and jurisdictions.”

“Through coordinated prosecutions, asset seizures, and intelligence sharing, the task force can directly degrade the operational capacity of Hamas and other terrorist networks and discourage future assistance,” the letter continues.  

It requests “additional information regarding the number of individuals held accountable to date, the number of investigations currently underway, and any recommendations the task force may have for congressional action.” 

The letter highlights the achievements of the task force since its inception in March 2025, including its work in identifying Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, a Gazan native who was residing in Lafayette, La., as having been involved in the Oct. 7 attacks, ultimately leading to his arrest.

The letter also comes amid reports that despite initial enthusiasm for the group within the Justice Department, the task force has since lost a number of its resources, with several of its members having been either fired or reassigned.  

“We are encouraged by the task force’s focus on identifying terrorist support networks, monitoring potential domestic radicalization, and holding those who provide aid or resources to extremist organizations accountable under U.S. law,” the lawmakers wrote. “The effort to support regional stability and pursue accountability for those responsible reflects the strong attention with which this Administration has approached the aftermath of that attack.” 

FBI Director Kash Patel signed bilateral security agreements with Qatar on Tuesday, in a move that is drawing renewed scrutiny to potential conflicts of interest surrounding his past lobbying for the Gulf emirate, the details of which he has failed to disclose.

During a meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha, Patel signed two memorandums of understanding with his counterpart “to advance mechanisms of security cooperation and coordinate efforts in training, the exchange of information and capacity-building,” according to Qatari state media.

“This step underscores the depth of the strategic partnership between the State of Qatar and the friendly United States of America, and bolsters our joint efforts in securing the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the minister of interior and head of the country’s Internal Security Force, who met with Patel on Tuesday, said in a social media post.

Neither Patel’s visit to Doha nor the agreements with Qatar have been publicly announced by the FBI. 

The security pacts follow an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in September pledging security guarantees if Qatar comes under attack — even as the Gulf state has faced criticism for hosting Hamas leaders and ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Patel, whose brief tenure leading the FBI has been mired in ethics controversies, drew scrutiny during his confirmation over undisclosed consulting for the Qatari government — provoking accusations that he improperly avoided registering as a foreign lobbyist.

Patel, who has said he will keep his consulting firm, Trishul, dormant during his time at the FBI, has not clarified what his contracts with Qatar had entailed.

In an ethics disclosure, Patel stated that he had “provided consulting services for the Embassy of Qatar” as recently as November 2024, and would recuse himself from any government work related to his former client for a period of one year after the work had concluded — unless granted authorization to do otherwise.

While the one-year buffer expired last month, Patel received a waiver in March allowing him to work on Qatar matters weeks after he had been confirmed by the Senate. The document did not specify the nature of his engagement with his former client.

Patel is among several top Trump administration officials who previously lobbied for Qatar, but his work in particular has raised red flags because of unresolved questions stemming from his past engagement with the Gulf state — which he is now more actively courting in spite of continuing ethics concerns.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment regarding Patel’s visit to Doha on Tuesday.

FBI Director Kash Patel called the Anti-Defamation League “an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization,” saying in a Wednesday announcement that the FBI has cut all formal ties with the anti-hate group. 

Patel slammed James Comey, the former FBI director now facing federal charges for allegedly lying to Congress in 2020, for speaking at an ADL conference in 2014 and 2017.

“James Comey disgraced the FBI by writing ‘love letters’ to the ADL and embedding agents with an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization and the disgraceful operation they ran spying on Americans,” Patel told Fox News. “That was not law enforcement, it was activism dressed up as counterterrorism, and it put Americans in danger.” 

The ADL’s website says the organization “works closely with federal, state and local law enforcement to assist them in protecting communities from extremism and hate.” The Bureau’s Denver field office gave a leadership award to a senior ADL official last year, calling the ADL “invaluable partners for the FBI in Denver.” The press release announcing that award has since been deleted from the FBI’s website. 

“That era is finished,” Patel said Wednesday. “This FBI formally rejects Comey’s policies and any partnership with the ADL.”

In recent days, the ADL came under fire from Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and other far-right activists because of a post on its website that outlined ties between extremists and Turning Point USA, the activist group founded by Charlie Kirk, the conservative influencer who was killed at a speaking engagement in Utah last month. Facing pressure from these leading voices on the right, the ADL this week deleted its online Glossary of Extremism and Hate.

“ADL has deep respect for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement officers at all levels across the country who work tirelessly every single day to protect all Americans regardless of their ancestry, religion, ethnicity, faith, political affiliation or any other point of difference,” the group said in a statement Wednesday.

“In light of an unprecedented surge of antisemitism, we remain more committed than ever to our core purpose to protect the Jewish people.”