FBI director Kash Patel defended his agency’s decision to roll back restrictions on agent applicants who have previously engaged in bestiality, arguing the FBI “did not want to punish victims of bestiality” by automatically disqualifying them.

The unusual topic of bestiality emerged during a Senate judiciary committee oversight hearing on Tuesday after Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican John Kennedy questioned Patel’s decision to remove barriers that previously prevented applicants who engaged in prostitution and bestiality from being qualified for a job at the FBI.

“I’m trying to understand why you did this,” Kennedy told Patel. “We’re having a tough time attracting agents, good quality agents we all can trust … why would you even get into bestiality?”

Patel said the change was recommended to him after he saw various “cases” in which qualified FBI applicants were denied consideration because they had been forced into bestiality as a result of human trafficking.

“I say this with respect to the person who recommended it, why didn’t you just say: ‘What planet did you parachute in from?’” Kennedy replied.

It is unclear how many FBI applicants have fallen into this category. The FBI did not respond to a question about the data to support Patel’s assertion.

In a statement, an FBI spokesperson insisted the bureau was “not relaxing hiring standards” and that the change allows it to consider “the whole of person” in certain circumstances. They reiterated that applicants who engaged in criminal sexual acts were not eligible for employment.

The spokesperson said it had “a number of applicants in previous years who suffered sexual abuse in their past, causing questions about prostitution, bestiality, or other similar issues to affect their background check process through zero fault of their own”.

“They showed me cases in which people were forced into it and had applied to the FBI, and so I thought: ‘They should be considered. It’s not an automatic disqualification.’ That’s all,” Patel told Kennedy.

The rule change, first reported by CBS News in August, allows the FBI to consider candidates who hired a sex worker under specific circumstances, a person who stole from an employer under certain circumstances and engaged in bestiality or animal cruelty – so long as the incident took place before they were 18 years old.

Kennedy, generally an ally of Donald Trump’s administration, grilled Patel on the hiring qualification change, arguing that it “really hurt” the FBI’s reputation.

At one point, the Republican senator from Louisiana asked Patel whether the change “disqualified the animal” from FBI service.

While Patel characterized the change as nondiscriminatory toward victims, Durbin refuted the notion and claimed it was a way to protect those who engaged in bestiality.

“You dropped automatic disqualification for applicants who have been engaged in bestiality, not victims of bestiality, applicants who have engaged,” Durbin said to Patel.

Patel responded: “Applicants who have engaged in bestiality means they were victims of bestiality because they were forced to do so.”

Democrats sent a letter to Patel on Monday requesting more information about the rule change and applicants who fell into the categories.