Kash Patel Testifies on Charlie Kirk Assassination, Epstein Files, and FBI Depoliticization Efforts

[00:04] Mr. Director, um

[00:08] you and the FBI

[00:12] working with uh state and local

[00:16] law enforcement officials in Utah

[00:21] have caught

[00:25] the assassin of Mr. Charlie Kirk. Is

[00:27] that right?

[00:28] We have a suspect. Yes, sir.

[00:31] And you did that within 48 hours, did

[00:33] you not?

[00:34] 33 hours.

[00:35] 33 hours.

[00:37] Congratulations.

[00:40] We've had other political assassinations

[00:42] back in uh back in June,

[00:47] an assassin assassinated uh

[00:50] Representative Melissa Hoffman, Mr.

[00:53] Hoffman, Senator John Hoffman, and Mrs.

[00:57] Hoffman in Minnesota.

[01:00] Uh you and the FBI

[01:03] and Minnesota state and local law

[01:06] enforcement officials

[01:08] caught the assassin within 48 hours. Did

[01:11] you not?

[01:12] I believe that timeline's correct,

[01:14] Senator.

[01:15] Congratulations.

[01:17] Sometimes we we uh we miss the forest

[01:22] for the trees. Good work.

[01:26] Um,

[01:29] did did Mr. Kirk's assa ass ass ass ass

[01:32] ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass

[01:32] ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass

[01:32] ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass

[01:32] ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass

[01:32] ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass

[01:32] ass ass ass ass ass assassin act alone?

[01:34] As I've said since the beginning,

[01:36] Senator, it is very much an ongoing

[01:38] investigation and um I can't speak to

[01:41] the state charges. That's for the state

[01:43] to address on their own, but we are

[01:44] providing them with the same

[01:46] investigatory findings reporting the

[01:47] department. And as I noted to Senator uh

[01:50] I believe it was uh Cornin or Holly that

[01:52] there are a number of individuals that

[01:54] are currently being investigated and

[01:56] interrogated and a number yet to be

[01:57] investigated and interrogated specific

[01:59] to that chat room. So we are very much

[02:03] in our ongoing posture of investigation.

[02:06] So others could have been involved.

[02:08] Yes sir.

[02:10] Okay.

[02:13] Um, I asked you this last time you were

[02:16] here,

[02:18] Cash. You remember Mr. Peter Struck and

[02:21] Miss Lisa Page?

[02:23] Yes, sir.

[02:24] They were Mr. Struck was an FBI agent.

[02:28] Miss Page was an FBI lawyer. They were

[02:31] both uh very aggressive anti-Trump

[02:35] political activists

[02:38] who allowed their political opinions to

[02:40] affect their work at the FBI. Is that a

[02:43] fair statement?

[02:44] I believe their text messages and their

[02:45] testimony that was secured by the OIG

[02:47] and DOJ speak themselves.

[02:49] In fact, um Mr. Struck and Miss Page

[02:53] were having an extraarital affair. And

[02:55] at one point, uh Miss Page texted Mr.

[02:59] Struck, quote, "Trump's not ever going

[03:01] to be president." Right. Right.

[03:05] And Mr. Struck replied,

[03:07] "No, no, he won't. we will stop it." End

[03:12] quote.

[03:15] Um,

[03:17] Miss Paige resigned from the FBI. Mr.

[03:20] Struck was fired. They promptly sued the

[03:23] federal government and the FBI and

[03:25] Justice Department for releasing their

[03:28] emails,

[03:29] which revealed all this.

[03:33] The FBI

[03:36] settled that lawsuit for $1.2 2 million

[03:39] gave Mr. Struck $1.2 million cash gave

[03:44] Miss Paige who resigned.

[03:46] She wasn't fired. She resigned. She quit

[03:49] gave her $800,000.

[03:52] Who if the FBI made that decision to

[03:54] give them money?

[03:55] Uh that settlement was reached in the

[03:57] Biden administration when my predecessor

[04:00] was a director.

[04:00] Who

[04:03] are you saying that Chris Ray did? The

[04:05] only people that can decide that

[04:07] settlement are the uh attorney general

[04:09] in conjunction with the director and the

[04:11] administration.

[04:12] Okay. So, you're telling me that

[04:14] attorney general Garland and director

[04:16] Ray decided to give them the money. Is

[04:19] that right?

[04:19] Yes, sir.

[04:20] Okay.

[04:22] Now, when when you uh

[04:27] when you you took over the FBI,

[04:31] did you find instances of where

[04:35] U under the Biden administration, the

[04:37] FBI had uh had weaponized the agency

[04:42] to push the uh political beliefs of

[04:44] President Biden.

[04:46] Sorry, the last part.

[04:48] When you took over the FBI, did you find

[04:51] instances of where

[04:53] uh the Biden administration had

[04:55] politicized the FBI

[04:58] to prosecute its political agenda?

[05:01] Well, I won't speak for other people.

[05:04] Having been a target of that

[05:06] weaponization, having been a staffer on

[05:08] the House Intelligence Committee, having

[05:10] had the Justice Department weaponize

[05:12] against me for making the findings and

[05:14] leading the investigation of Russia

[05:15] gate, I know what that feels like. And

[05:17] that's why as the FBI director, I'm

[05:19] committing to not ever have that ever

[05:20] happen again. But I'm also committed to

[05:22] fully investigating what was done. And

[05:25] that matter is still ongoing.

[05:26] So I I assume I take it your answer is

[05:29] yes.

[05:30] Yes, sir.

[05:30] And you're firing those people. Is that

[05:32] right? Anyone that politicizes their job

[05:35] at the FBI will not work at the FBI.

[05:38] Okay. You've heard some of my colleagues

[05:41] either implicitly or or otherwise

[05:45] suggest that you have politicized the

[05:48] FBI to uh to to prosecute the political

[05:52] beliefs of President Trump. Is that

[05:54] true?

[05:56] I don't know how that can be true when

[05:58] the stats that I cited to include the

[06:01] 23,000 arrest, 6,000 weapon seized,

[06:05] 1,600 gang and criminal enterprise

[06:07] organizations, 40 4,700 children found

[06:09] and rescued, more enough fentinol seized

[06:12] to kill a third of America, the men and

[06:14] women of the FBI are now on an

[06:16] a-olitical mission. And this is why the

[06:18] numbers are historic in

[06:19] Have you fired people because they voted

[06:21] for Vice President Harris? I don't ask

[06:24] people who they vote for and neither

[06:25] does the FBI.

[06:26] Okay. But you've given people

[06:28] polygraphs, have you not?

[06:30] Many people in the FBI take polies.

[06:32] The FBI does that all the time? Yes,

[06:33] sir.

[06:34] Does it not?

[06:34] Yes, sir.

[06:35] For a long time. Is that correct?

[06:37] Decades.

[06:38] All right. I want to ask you about the

[06:40] Epstein files. Have you uh

[06:44] have you seen the Epstein files?

[06:46] I have not reviewed the entirety of it

[06:48] myself, but a good amount.

[06:51] Good. Um,

[06:54] would it be fair to say

[06:58] that Mr. Epstein traffked

[07:03] young women, including in some instances

[07:06] minors,

[07:07] for sex to himself?

[07:10] That was specifically the allegations in

[07:13] the 2018 indictment in the Southern

[07:15] District of New York.

[07:16] Okay.

[07:18] Who else did he traffic these young

[07:20] women to?

[07:22] In terms of what the investigation,

[07:26] again going back to 2008, Mr. Acasta,

[07:29] who limited the investigation and

[07:31] limited the search warrants and limited

[07:33] the parameters of the investigation, the

[07:35] only thing we are able to speak to

[07:36] publicly because he was given a

[07:38] nonprosecution agreement by Mr. Aosta is

[07:41] that first time period from, I believe,

[07:43] don't quote me on this, 97 to 2001ish.

[07:46] And then when the Trump administration

[07:48] courageously reopened it,

[07:49] ask me for interrupting, but I'm going

[07:51] to run out of time. You've seen most of

[07:54] the files.

[07:56] Uh, who, if anyone did Epstein traffic

[07:59] these young women to besides himself?

[08:03] Himself? There is no credible

[08:05] information. None. If there were, I

[08:07] would bring the case yesterday that he

[08:10] traffked to other individuals. And the

[08:12] information we have again is limited. So

[08:14] the answer is no one

[08:16] for the information that we have

[08:19] in the files

[08:20] in the case file.

[08:21] Okay. Now uh President Trump has

[08:24] deferred to the FBI and the Department

[08:27] of Justice

[08:28] uh with respect to the the Epstein

[08:30] records. He says it is your call about

[08:32] releasing him and and I understand that

[08:36] the department and the agency have

[08:38] decided to release them in cooperation

[08:42] with the house committee. Is that

[08:44] correct?

[08:45] Yes, sir.

[08:46] Uh so you're releasing them a little bit

[08:49] at a time. Is that correct?

[08:50] We're releasing as much as we can. Um,

[08:53] but we are limited by three different

[08:56] court orders and the department went

[08:58] back to each of those judges to wave

[09:01] those court orders or have them lifted

[09:03] and each of those judges declined.

[09:05] Will you release all of them or at least

[09:07] as many as you can?

[09:08] We will release everything. We are

[09:10] legally permitted to do so. We are

[09:12] continuing to work with the house on the

[09:13] subpoena request. We have substantially

[09:16] required with it, complied with it, but

[09:18] we will continue to release whatever we

[09:20] are legally permitted to do so.

[09:23] Okay. I strongly encourage you to do

[09:24] that, Cash. I don't This issue is not

[09:27] going to go away. Um, and I think the

[09:31] the essential question for the American

[09:33] people is this. They know that Epstein

[09:38] traffked

[09:39] young women for sex to himself.

[09:44] They want to know who, if anyone else,

[09:47] he traffked these young women to.

[09:51] And that's a very fair question. I want

[09:53] to know that answer.

[09:55] And uh I I think you're going to have to

[09:59] to do more to satisfy the American

[10:01] people's understandable curiosity in

[10:04] that regard.

[10:05] Mr. Chairman, may I just respond to

[10:07] that? I agree, Senator, and what we have

[10:11] done. And just to remind folks,

[10:14] the Epstein case files existed in the

[10:17] two prior administrations in the Obama

[10:19] administration and the Biden

[10:20] administration. They didn't release

[10:22] anything. And there was President Trump

[10:24] in the first administration that renewed

[10:26] charges against Mr. Epstein. And I know

[10:29] it's a little complicated to understand.

[10:31] Uh but what exists in the Epstein case

[10:36] files was a direct result of the limited

[10:39] search warrants from 2006 and 7 which

[10:42] hamstrung future investigations because

[10:45] of the nonprosecution agreement and

[10:47] multiple administrations had the

[10:49] opportunity to look at the entirety of

[10:51] that case file and recommend

[10:53] prosecutions against anyone that was

[10:55] trafficked under Mr. Epstein and anyone

[10:58] that participated in that trafficking.

[11:00] and the only person to bring charges was

[11:03] the prior administration against Mr.

[11:04] Epstein. Now, I am not saying that

[11:07] others were not trafficked and others

[11:08] were not involved. What I am telling you

[11:11] is that based on the information we have

[11:13] and we have continuously and publicly

[11:15] asked for the public to come forward

[11:17] with more information. If there is,

[11:18] we'll look at it. but based on credible

[11:21] information. We have released all

[11:22] credible information and the information

[11:25] that the Department of Justice and the

[11:26] FBI never releases is information on

[11:29] investigations that are not credible and

[11:31] we don't release the names of victims

[11:33] who weren't credible. But at the same

[11:35] time, we don't release the names of

[11:36] victims who were credible. And so the

[11:38] information that's by law and so the

[11:40] information we are releasing now is

[11:43] historic and it is also to the maximum

[11:45] capacity that the law allows. And I know

[11:47] that's not going to satisfy many, many,

[11:49] many people, but if they wanted it done

[11:52] right, then the investigation from its

[11:54] origination should have been done right.

[11:56] And he should not have been given a get

[11:58] out of jail free card to do jail on the

[12:00] weekends for 12 hours a day. And he

[12:02] should have been investigated fully for

[12:04] the entirety of his crime and criminal

[12:06] enterprise, not just from 1997 to 2001.

[12:10] Senator Blumenthal.

[12:12] Thank you, Mr. Patel.

[12:14] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Director

[12:16] Patel, thank you for being here today.

[12:18] Uh, you'll recall well, uh, in January

[12:21] at your confirmation hearing before this

[12:25] committee, I raised the prospect of

[12:27] politically motivated

[12:29] retaliation. And you promised me, as you

[12:33] did other members of this committee,

[12:35] quote, "Every FBI employee will be held