Washington DC - FBI Director Kash Patel warned on Wednesday that the agency would be unable to operate properly if President Donald Trump goes ahead with cuts to its funding.

During a House Appropriations Committee hearing, Patel was asked about the White House's proposed FBI budget cuts, which total about $545 million and are purportedly part of an effort to "reform and streamline" the bureau.

"At this time we have not looked at who to cut," Patel responded when asked which FBI positions would be axed, before stressing that the bureau needs more resources if it is to continue operating successfully.

"We are focusing our energies on how not to have them cut, by coming in here and highlighting to you that we can't do the mission on those 2011 budget levels," he explained.

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Patel said that the FBI is in communications with the White House in an attempt to reduce the cuts and make sure that they don't have to reduce their capabilities in the 2026 fiscal year.

"The proposed budget that I put forward is to cover us for $11.1 billion, which would not have us cut any positions," Patel said.

The Trump administration touted its new "skinny budget" in a press release put out by the White House on May 2, claiming that it "guts a weaponized deep state while providing historic increases for defense and border security."

In seeming contradiction to the proposed FBI cuts, the statement said that the budget "reflects the President’s priority of reducing violent crime in American cities and protecting national security by getting Federal Bureau of Investigation agents into the field."