FBI director Kash Patel clashes with senators over Epstein

FBI director Kash Patel clashed with sceptical senators as he faced questions about the case against sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s killing and the sackings of senior FBI officials who have accused Mr Patel of illegal political retribution.

Mr Patel was defending his record amid criticism that he has politicised the US’s premier federal law enforcement agency and pursued retribution against perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump.

The appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee represented the first oversight hearing of Mr Patel’s tenure at a time of internal upheaval and mounting concerns about political violence inside the United States, following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a college campus in Utah.

Mr Patel, backed by Republican politicians who signalled their support for him, sought to keep the focus on what he said was a record of accomplishment in fighting violent crime, protecting children from abuse and disrupting the flow of fentanyl.

He detailed that the man suspected in Mr Kirk’s killing was arrested within 33 hours but did not mention that he had created confusion soon after the killing by posting on social media that “the subject” was in custody.

Mr Patel had posted in the hours after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk that “the subject” was in custody even though the actual suspect was still at large.

“I don’t see it as a mistake. I see it as something – working with the public to identify that there was a subject in custody,” Mr Patel told senators.

He said he wanted to inform the public that a subject had been taken into custody, even though that person did not end up being the suspect in the shooting.

He told senators: “Could I have been more careful in my verbiage and said we had a subject instead of the subject? Sure.”

Senator Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, said it caused confusion by making it sound as if authorities had caught the person suspected of killing Kirk.

Mr Patel replied: “That’s not what I said.”

Mr Patel also said the FBI has ‘no credible information’ that Epstein trafficked teenage girls to others.

“There is no credible information – none. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals,” Mr Patel said, while also acknowledging that previous investigations of Epstein were limited.

Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said that kind of answer was unlikely to satisfy demands to release more information.

“This issue is not going to go away,” Mr Kennedy said. “And I think the central question for the American people is this: They know that Epstein trafficked young women for sex to himself. They want to know who if anyone else he trafficked these young women to.”

Mr Patel said that the current case files included only “limited search warrants” between 2006 and 2007 because federal prosecutors in Florida had previously agreed a secret deal with Epstein that allowed him to avoid prosecution for his previous actions.

Democrats repeatedly tried to steer the hearing back to the turmoil inside the FBI and suggested his sacking of experienced agents and supervisors was a troubling about-face from his confirmation hearing pledge in January that he would not look “backwards” or pursue retribution as director.

“I’m not going to mince words: you lied to us,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat.

Five agents and top-level executives were known to have been summarily sacked in August in a purge that current and former officials say has contributed to declining morale.

Three of them, including former acting director Brian Driscoll, sued last week. The complaint alleged that Mr Patel indicated that he was aware that the sackings were “likely illegal” but had to carry them out because he was ordered to do so from the White House.

“These allegations are a searing indictment of your tenure as FBI director,” Mr Blumenthal said.

Mr Patel disputed the suggestion he had lied, and said that though he could not discuss the specifics of those sackings “anyone that’s been terminated failed to meet the needs of the FBI and uphold their constitutional duties”.

Mr Patel had a testy exchange with Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the committee. Mr Durbin of Illinois challenged him on an unsubstantiated theory advanced by FBI deputy director Dan Bongino that the placement of pipe bombs on a Washington street ahead of the January 6 2021 riot at the US Capitol was an inside job.

“I find it disgusting thing that everyone and anyone would jettison our 31 years of combined experience that is now at the helm of the FBI, delivering historic results and historic speeds for the American people,” Mr Patel said.

The FBI director was also challenged on whether he was pursuing retaliation against perceived Trump foes, including through a fresh inquiry the bureau has undertaken related to the long-concluded FBI investigation into potential ties between Russia and Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse estimated that Mr Patel had already taken some sort of adverse action against 20 of the roughly 60 people who were singled out in what the Rhode Island Democrat described as an “enemies list” in a 2023 book Mr Patel authored called Government Gangsters.

The Justice Department, for instance, appeared to confirm in an unusual statement in July that it was investigating former FBI director James Comey and former CIA director John Brennan, both pivotal players in the Russia saga.

“That is an entirely inaccurate presupposition,” Mr Patel said. “I do not have an enemies list.”

Republicans eagerly rallied to Mr Patel’s defence, with Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee chairman, praising the director for having “begun the important work of returning the FBI to its law enforcement mission”.

“It’s well understood that your predecessor left you an FBI infected with politics,” Mr Grassley said.