Kash Patel Testifies on FBI's Record Crime Arrests and the Explosive Arctic Frost Investigation into Republicans

recess at any time. We welcome everyone to today's hearing on oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uh this is the first occasion for the committee to get back together since um the tragic death of of Charlie Kirk. Um, Charlie was a was a good man, a happy warrior who fought for fought for principles and values I think are make make our country special and certainly was a strong proponent of defending the First Amendment, something this committee cares deeply about. I said this over the weekend. I think Charlie lived that that scripture verse 2 Timothy 4:7, fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith. Um Charlie certainly lived that and he did it with a smile on his face and so um the tragic um killing happened a week ago while we were while we were in in in Mark up here in the committee. Um and I know everyone I know the our witness was a friend of Charlie's and I know many people in the das were as well. Um so I know we're all praying for Charlie's family and I would extend a moment to the ranking member if he wanted to say something. >> Thank you Mr. Sherman for for saying that the whole country reacted with horror and shock to the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk um in cold blood. And there is never any warrant for political violence in America. And just as we all recoiled together at the shocking assassination of uh Melissa Hortman and others who died in that Minnesota attack, we all stand together categorically against political violence in America and determined uh to end um you know these the cycles of um of political violence that have traumatized the country. >> Well said. Um chair now recognize the gentleman from Kansas, Mr. Schmidt, to lead the lead us all in the pledge of >> allegiance. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> As is customary, we will begin with opening statements. 5 weeks ago, because of the work of Director Patel, we learned that the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee and current United States Senator leaked classified information. We learned this because a whistleblower came forward. Whistleblower with 23 years experience in the intelligence community, a Democrat staffer on the committee said this. They were pressured to leak classified information, which sort of raises the obvious question. Why would the head of the intelligence committee, the chair of that committee, who's supposed to be guarding our secrets, why would he be encouraging the leaking of classified information? Whistleblower told us that answer as well. The leaked information was supposed to be used. The leaked information, false information was going to be used to indict President Trump. Now, the former chairman wasn't the only person leaking information. Jim Comey was also sharing things he should he wasn't supposed to share. Again, don't take my word for it. The inspector general told us this in his report. He said, quote, "James Comey violated FBI policy by disclosing classified information." And what was Comey's motive? Same as the senator from California to sabotage and undermine President Trump's first term. And we know that Mr. Comey has not been shy about what his objective was. In fact, four months ago, he told us, remember this 8647 Jim Comey told us for just four months ago. Now, how'd they do it? How did the former chair of the intel committee, the former FBI director, and others in our government attempt to undermine President Trump's first term? Seven weeks ago, because of the good work of the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, we learned from another whistleblower, a second whistleblower, that in the closing days of the Obama administration, the intelligence community assessment was changed. On December 5th, 2016, they had one assessment. That assessment said Russia didn't try or excuse me, did not impact the election vote count. There was a meeting at the White House on December 9th, 2016 where it was decided, no, no, no, we're not going to have that. We're going to come up with a new one. And the new one said Russia was trying to influence election and did influence election, which just wasn't accurate. And that new one is published on January 6, 2017. Let's just show you a few things that took place. I want to show you first this email from Admiral Rogers, the head of the NSA. You can see it was December 22nd. says to Jim, John and Jim, Jim Clapper, John Brennan, Jim Comey, and he says, "I asked my team if they've had sufficient access to the underlying intelligence, sufficient time to review that intelligence. On both points, my team raised concerned." Further states, "My folks aren't fully comfortable." Few hours later, there's an email back to Admiral Rogers. This one is from Jim Clapper and it says this. It is essential that we be on the same page and are supportive and all of us are supportive of the report in the highest tradition of that's our story and we're sticking to it. We may have to compromise on our normal modalities. This is one project that has to be a team sport. That's our story and we're sticking to it. Compromise compromise on normal modalities. That's a fancy way of saying that's the government speak for we're going to have to change the rules. In fact, we're not going to follow our own rules. And that's exactly what they did to get the objective they wanted to undermine President Trump. Now, how how did it specifically take place? The whistleblower said that the government officials ignored concerns about discredited information. And what was that discredited information? What was the discredit information that they didn't ignore the concerns about? What did they use that discredit information? Of course, it was the dossier, the now famous steel dossier that was paid for by the Clinton campaign when they hired the law firm Perkins Kuey, who hired Fusion GPS, who hired the foreigner Christopher Steel, who wrote all this garbage and lies down. That was is what was used to change the intelligence community report. And what happens next? What do Jim John and Jim do do next? They go to Trump Tower on January 6, 2017 to brief then President-elect Trump about the dossier. Again, the Clinton financed foreign author dossier that the whistleblower knows is garbage and that they know is garbage. And then there's one final step. One final step. Jim Comey leaves that meeting with the president and immediately leaks to the press that they briefed the president on the discredited information. They briefed the president on the dossier and thereby given it somewhat some credibility and create creating the basis and the predicate for all they did to the president. They leaked false information. They leaked classified information. They used and leaked discredited information. And they didn't follow their own rules. All to sabotage President Trump's first term. And but for this guy, Cash Patel, but for this guy, we would never have known this information. The good people of this great country would not have known what took place 8 years ago when they were trying to undermine the guy elected by We the People. And I want to thank Attorney General Bondi. She set up a special strike force, a special team to look into this and see if there's any criminal liability that exists in what took place. Now, in addition to getting the truth to the people, Director Patel is getting the bad guys off the street. He's moved agents out of Washington, got the focus off of politics here in DC, and is instead putting bad guys behind bars. 21,000 violent criminals uh have been taken off the streets, which is 125% increase from the comparable period in the previous administration. He's rescued 4,000 kids. He's got 1,300 predators who he's arrested. He's also ended the weaponization of the FBI. No more spying on parents at schoolboard meetings. No more pre-dawn raids on pro-life Catholics. No more retaliation against whistleblowers. And he's given us information that Chris Ray didn't. Maybe said better. He's given us information that Chris Ray wouldn't. Director Ray didn't tell us that there were 26 confidential human sources at the capital in January 6, 2021, even though he was repeatedly asked about that by members of this committee. Director Ray didn't tell us that there were 17 of those confidential human sources who entered restricted space. Four went in the capital. None of them were arrested. They weren't authorized to do that. They broke the law. None of them were arrested. Lots of American citizens were arrested. But the guys whose salary, excuse me, whose American tax dollars was used to pay these guys who broke the law, none of them were one was recommended for charging and was not charged. And remember when Chris Ray told us that the Richmond field office memorandum on pro-life Catholics was just a one-off. Turns out he wasn't being squared with the Sen either. Director A wasn't squared with us. He told us that multiple other offices were involved in targeting the Catholics. We got that information from from director Patel. The we learned from director Patel the FBI actually surveiled a priest tried to get the priest to devolve information break the priest's penitent relationship and confidence that exist. And director Patel is saving taxpayers money. He's not going to build a new headquarters outside of DC. He's going to keep the headquarters right here in the capital city. Save Americans money. save the taxpayers money. In eight months, in eight months, Director Patel has given us the facts. He's ended the weaponization at the FBI. He's taken bad guys off the streets and he's saving taxpayers money. But my guess is the Democrats won't focus on all that good news. They'll focus on politics. They'll stick with Comey and Clapper and Brennan and continue to try to undermine President Trump. That I yield to the ranking member for an opening statement. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and welcome. Director Patel, you and I have not had the opportunity to meet. And uh alas, you failed to respond to the eight oversight letters I've sent you over the last 7 months. Um so we do have a lot of questions piling up for you, but I want to start with a word of praise. The first FBI director was J. Garoover, who uh steadfastly refused to hire women, African-Americans, and other minorities as agents. And although he was a closeted homosexual who lived in domestic partnership for decades with Clyde Tullson, he also participated in anti-gay crusades, he aggressively promoted what we would today call white Christian nationalism and he would undoubtedly be turning over in his grave to see as one of his successors a first generation Indian-American and a proud Hindu. So I congratulate you on being a breakthrough in this sense and being a beneficiary of the civil rights movement that opened up the FBI and the federal workforce to lots of people who never would have been hired in its first decades. Alas, you share Jay Edgar Hoover's dangerous obsession with blind loyalty over professionalism and effective public policy. For Hoover, it was blind loyalty to him in keeping his secrets. For you, it's blind loyalty to Donald Trump in keeping his secrets. During your confirmation, it was widely noted on all sides that your primary qualification was your unwavering loyalty to Trump. Unlike other directors, you had no work experience at the FBI, but you had made over a thousand media and political appearances in support of Trump's campaign. Your Senate confirmation vote was 51 to 49, the closest in history with your opponents warning you were not qualified and had no interest in actually developing the qualifications for the job. I hoped that they were wrong. Uh, alas, they were not. While most other new FBI directors drew on their experience as FBI agents, you didn't have that. But you did write a picture book trilogy for children ages five and up based on your experience clashing with President Trump's political enemies. In your book, you describe your literary alter ego, Cash the Knight, as a wacky, easily bored wizard carrying out King Donald's vengeance by driving his enemies out of the kingdom. In the books, King Donald is besieged by the evil Hillary Queen Town, but saved in the end by Cash. Then Catch goes on to catch mules who are stealing the 2020 election for the great King Donald from Sleepy Joe. And then in the third book, Cash Takes Down the Dragon of the Jalapenos, nicknamed the DOJ. Your supporters had hoped that you would graduate from imagining yourself a romantic fairy tale knight to actually running America's premier federal law enforcement agency. Alas, just as we've learned how dangerous it is to put a science denying antiaxer in charge of our public health, we've learned how danger it is to name as director of the FBI a man who thinks of himself as a fairy tale knight who keeps a fireb breathing dragon named DOJ at home to forcibly drive villains out of the kingdom. When Charlie Kirk was assassinated while his killer was still on the loose, you decided you didn't need to be at FBI headquarters in Washington to work with your team while the chaotic manhunt unfolded. You spent your evening dining in a swanky Midtown Manhattan restaurant and tweeting out false information that the subject of the shooting was in custody, a statement you had to retract one hour later. Your performance was so disturbing that even the mega base was alarmed. Culture warrior Christopher Rufo, who just a few months ago sat in your chair as a Republican witness, observed that you performed terribly, and he called for your ouster. The FBA FBI might be able to survive your delusions of grandeur and the explosively volatile temper that was on display yesterday in the Senate. But the intractable problem is that you are running the FBI not as a law enforcement agency charged with keeping the American people safe, but as a political enforcement agency working directly for the president's vengeance campaign. 7 months in, it's impossible to overstate the destruction, chaos, and demoralization you've brought to the FBI and its workforce and the resulting danger your actions have caused to our country. You've been systematically purging the FBI of its most experienced and qualified agents, division leaders, and experts in counterterror, counter intelligence, and cyber security. Precisely the people who have the expertise you lack and which the FBI and the country need. They've been expelled from the ranks of the bureau simply because they did their duty investigating crimes, including those committed by the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and beat the hell out of more than 140 police officers, or simply because you suspected them of being insufficiently loyal to Donald Trump. You illegally sacked Brian Driscoll, the former acting director of the bureau and a decorated counterterrorism expert who worked at the FBI for nearly 20 years. According to Driscoll, Driscoll, you told him, "Your own job, quote, depended on the removal of agents who worked on the cases against the president, regardless of whether the agents chose to work on those cases or not." You added, quote, "The FBI tried to put the president in jail, and he hasn't forgotten it. You forced out the leader of the Salt Lake City field office, Metab Say, just weeks before Charlie Kirk's assassination, depriving the FBI of an experienced counterterrorism expert described by her colleagues colleagues as absolutely the best and legendary. She would have led the FBI's manhunt had she not been fired. When Trump decided that rounding up immigrants with no criminal records was more important than preventing crimes like human trafficking of women and girls, drug dealing, terrorism, and fraud, you ordered the 25 largest field offices to divert thousands of agents away from chasing down violent criminals, sex traffickers, fraudsters, and scammers to carry out this immigration crackdown. Director Patel, you treated the men and women at the FBI with disrespect and paranoia. You've assembled a roving band of freelancing henchmen within your office and charged them with conducting unauthorized investigations, targeting and harassing career FBI employees. Amazingly, you forced senior leadership to repeatedly take polygraph tests to prove their political loyalty and pushed out leaders who refuse these demeaning exercises. And now we're seeing one very clear reason why you want to build a political FBI, the Epstein files. You want an FBI blindly loyal to Trump and to you as his enforcer so you can continue your cover up of a massive international sex trafficking ring with more than 1,000 victims betraying all of the survivors of the sexual violence. Before you got into this job, you called for full release of the Epstein files, telling podcaster Benny Johnson that the only reason the list was not released by DOJ and FBI was quote because of who's on that list. Upon your confirmation, you promised that quote there will be no cover-ups, no missing documents, no stone left unturned, and anyone from the prior current bureau who undermines this will be swiftly pursued. This spring, you ordered hundreds of agents to pour over all the Epstein files, but not to look for more clues about the money network or the network of human traffickers. You pulled these agents from their regular counterterrorism or drug trafficking duties to work around the clock. Some of them sleeping at their desks to conduct a frantic search to make sure Donald Trump's name and image were flagged and redacted wherever they appeared, whether an email, a text, a letter, an interview, a photograph, or a video. In May, Attorney General Bandi reportedly told Trump that his name had indeed appeared multiple times throughout the Epstein files. And not long thereafter, in July, you and the attorney general released a memo claiming that quote, "No further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." In a few short months, how did you go from being a crusader for accountability and transparency for the Epstein files to being a part of the conspiracy and cover up? The answer is simple. You said it yourself, because of who's on that list. Donald Trump's relationship with Epstein over the years is well documented. A week ago, the oversight committee released Trump's disturbing birthday book, Note to Epstein, written over a drawing of a woman's naked body, referring to a quote, "Wonderful secret." The oversight committee obtained the note from the Epstein estate, not from the FBI, raising questions again of whether the FBI has been withholding documents. While you're unleashing the FBI to cater to Trump's desire to shut down the Epstein inquiry, the first nine months of the Trump presidency have seen a spate of political violence and domestic terror events. We saw deadly attacks on political figures on both the left and the right, the brutal assassination of Minnesota Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband in the attempted murder of Democratic State Senator John Hoffman and his wife who miraculously survived a combined 17 gunshots. We saw an arsonist set Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's residence on fire. And of course, last week, we saw the horrific cold-blooded assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah that has shaken the nation. One minute after Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck, um a 16-year-old shooter in Evergreen, Colorado, radicalized by white supremacist ideology online, opened fire and critically wounded two other students at Evergreen High School. We've seen lethal anti-semitic violence, including the murder of two young Israeli embassy staffers just blocks from the capital, and then in the attack on a gathering of Jewish people in support of hostages held in Gaza in Boulder in June. We've seen continued mass shootings at schools like the domestic terror incident at a Catholic school in Minneapolis last month, which killed two children and wounded 18 others. And in August, a man fired more than 500 bullets at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing a police officer who was a Marine veteran and a father. People like Melissa Hortman and Charlie Kirk should be able to participate in politics as elected officials or active citizens without being shot down in cold blood in the United States of America. People should also be able to go to elementary school, to middle school, to high school, to work, to the mall, and to church without being shot down in explosions of gun violence. The important position of the FBI requires a leader who puts public safety and national security and the rule of law first. I'm afraid, Director Patel, you've given us reason to believe. You've used the powers of the FBI to serve Donald Trump and his agenda of partisan retribution. You've broken your promise not to do that. You've betrayed Jeffrey Epstein's victims and survivors. You've turned your back on the career law enforcement officers of the FBI. And as a result, you've left us you've left all of us less less safe than before. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. >> Gentleman yields back. That opening statement may have been longer than any book the director's ever written or anyone else has written. Um, without objection, all of the opening statements will be included in the record. We will now introduce today's witness. Mr. Patel has been the director of the FBI since February of 2025. He previously served as chief of staff at the Department of Defense, deputy director of national intelligence with the National Security Council and and also as a congressional staffer as a federal prosecutor where he focused on national security cases and he also worked as a public defender in the state of Florida. We welcome our witness. appreciate his work and thank him for appearing here today. Will we begin by swearing you in? Director, would you please stand? Uh, raise your right hand. Do you Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief. So, help you God. >> Let the record reflect that the witness has answered in the affirmative. You can be seated as you are. Um, you know, you've been through this. You've been through this yesterday. Did a fine job. Please know that your written testimony will be entered into the record in its entirety accordingly. We ask that you summarize your testimony. Uh, director, you may begin. >> Good morning, Mr. Chairman, ranking member Rasking, and members of the committee. I want to begin today by discussing the appalling assassination of Charlie Kirk. It's important for this FBI to be transparent without jeopardizing our investigations. So, a little bit of the timeline's important. Charlie Kirk was unfortunately assassinated on September 10th. We immediately the next day released images early in the day in local time in Utah to start the public partnership in our manhunt for the assassin and culprits. At um approximately 5:00 p.m. local time, I arrived on the ground and walked the crime scene myself. And we flew multiple FBI assets in and out to process DNA simultaneously while bringing in evidence response technicians, hostage rescue teams, and other experts to assist state and local law enforcement with their investigation. At 8:00 p.m. local on September 11th, the FBI collected and populated and promulgated at a press conference a video of the suspect on the grounds. We also released enhanced images. Due to that release that I directed and ordered, the suspect involved was apprehended and in custody at 10 p.m. local time. That's less than 2 hours after we did the video release and the photo release. So, within 33 hours, that individual suspect was in custody. and his family, who has since been interrogated, specifically stated to FBI interrogators that because of the video that the FBI released at my direction and because of the photographs that they released, they identified their son. They confronted their son when he swung by their home and that's what led to his apprehension. Uh we are still the FBI has that investigation ongoing and it continues to be ongoing and I want to thank the state of Utah and the state and local authorities there and I also want to thank the attorney general and President Trump for directing resources to allow us to conduct that investigation as we have. Um under this administration the FBI has arrested more than 23,000 violent criminals. 23,000 in 7 months. That's twice as many year to date last year. We've taken over 6,000 firearms off the streets. 6,000 guns are no longer in the hands of criminals. In 7 months, we've identified and found and located 4700 child victims. That is a 35% increase year-to- date last year. We have arrested 1,500 child predators. That is a 10% increase year-to- date last year. In just 7 months, we've assisted our partners with countless counterterrorism operations around the world. We've captured at the FBI four of the most top 10 wanted fugitives in the world in 7 months. To put that in perspective, that's as many as my predecessor nabbed in the entirety of the Biden administration. We got four. We got more coming. On top of that, in two weeks, thanks to the help of the CIA, we collected and captured one of the individuals responsible for the horrific Abigate bombing that led to the murder of 13 service members. We did that in two weeks. They didn't do it in the four years of the entire priority prior administration. Nationwide, we've been executing our operation summer heat, the FBI's national focus on targeting violent crime based on intelligence-driven operations. asked the citizens of Seattle, Miami, Memphis, Charlotte, Chicago, New Orleans um to specifically highlight New Orleans and Nashville. There has been a 250% increase in violent crime arrest in those cities alone and other mid- major cities that I've just listed. In just a few short months, we have already unleashed a thousand FBI personnel across this country. Every single state across this country is getting a plus up. This is a fiction that the FBI is short or that we are compromising the men and women in the field. They do not need to be in Washington DC. So, we're sending them into the field to each and every one of your states. Because of that, crime is at an all-time low. We had to do it because of the explosion of crime. And maybe the most important stat for Americans to realize, in just 7 months, we are on track to produce the lowest murder rate in modern US history by double digits. Those are results not of mine. Those are results of the men and women of the FBI. If you want to criticize me, bring it on. But do not attack the brave leaders in the field. We are also working 24/7, 365, and on the opioid epidemic that is killing more than hundreds of thousands of people a year. We have seen 1,600 kg of fentinyl off the streets so far in 7 months. Year-to- date, 25% increase. To put that in perspective, that's enough to kill a third of the American population. 120 million Americans. 100,000 kilograms of cocaine and meth gone off the streets. Earlier this year, I highlighted in Cincinnati, Ohio, how we're getting creative to chase down those that were willing to do harm to our citizens. Not just by striking at the heart of the fentinol producers, but the fentinol precursor companies in China. And we indicted for the first time multiple companies and individuals, not just in America, but in mainland China that are producing the ingredients that produce and make fentinel that kill our children. And we are going to keep going. Counterterrorism work, cyber attacks, and foreign adversaries are something the FBI must never sleep on. And we are not sleeping. in the counter intelligence space alone this year year-to- date 30% increase in counterintelligence arrests from the DPRK Russia Iran and China and I want the American people to know in this setting there's a lot of work that the brave men and women in the FBI are doing we just can't get into but they don't stop our cyber threats ransomware attacks those harming our children online we've nearly a 20% increase in indictments arrests in 7 months alone this year we're going after those that harm our malware infrastructure systems, telecom systems, and energy structure, combating salt and vault typhoons are just a little bit of the examples we're doing. Maybe most importantly, under the counterterrorism and domestic terrorism umbrella, our nest violent extremist, and those that label themselves 764 who wish to go online and convince children to maim and mutilate themselves and commit suicide. And we are producing record numbers of arrests under that umbrella organization. We even stop main priorities at the FBI. And this is what I've done in my seven months at the helm. We've produced more than 33,000 pages of documents to Congress to a variety of committees, including, I believe, 12 uh 7,500 to this committee alone, if memory serves me correct. To put the 33,000 in perspective, my predecessor in 7 years produced 13,000 pages in total to the United States Congress. His predecessor in four years produced 3,000 pages in total. I repeat, I have produced 33,000 pages in seven years to this Congress and will continue to do so. I'm dedicated to restoring the trust and the mission and the integrity of the FBI and we cannot do so without congressional oversight and I promise you I will continue to do so. On the Epstein case, the original sin on the Epstein case was how it was handled by Mr. Aosta when he first brought the case in 20067 and 8. The original case had a very limited search warrant, had a very limited search window, had a very limited investigative window. I was not there when those search warrants in that investigation was launched. I would not have done it that way. They were limited to only 3 to four years of investigations from 97 to approximately 2001 and 2002 to 2005. Mr. Aosta allowed Mr. Epstein to enter into a plea agreement where he served weekend jails for trafficking minor women. He also was allowed to relieve jail to go home on the weekends. Plus, he allowed a defer a nonprosecution agreement to be signed as part of that plea deal, prohibiting future investigations from that prosecution and from that evidence and prohibiting the collection of further material. That is the original sin. We are working with Congress to produce more than any administration ever has material on Epstein. And I welcome the challenge to tell us that we are not being as transparent as the law allows. We even went to court and asked the judges to lift those prosecutorial agreements and to lift those court order seals and they denied us three times. Congress is welcome to do the same and join the fight. And I'd lastly like to focus on operation that the president led in DC. Because of this, we are taking this fight in DC to every single city across the country. 2100 arrests in the last month alone. DC has seen a 60% decrease in gun crimes, 75% decrease in carjackings, and 53% decrease in homicides in our nation's capital. And rightly so, we're bringing that fight to the streets of America. I want to thank you for your support, and I'm proud to be the director that leads this FBI into a new headquarters building that they've needed for decades, saving the taxpayer three and a half billions of dollars and also providing our workforce a safe environment. If you don't know the calamity that is the Hoover building, I invite each and every one of you to walk around. I'll give you a tour myself and you can see where the cement falls on the heads of our our employees that is only to be saved by netting just to give you an example. Thank you for support to our mission and um I do want to highlight one thing about DC. It's because the FBI gathered sources and evidence that we were able to through our source network identify the horrific murder of the DC intern Eric Tarpinian. and I've spoken to his family and um you know we are working to bring them justice and Mr. Chairman in my 16 years now my 17 years of government service if anyone has any questions about my service bring it on. >> Yeah thank you director we will now proceed under the five-minute rule the chair recognizes the gentleman from California Mr. Director, delighted to have you here. You are a breath of fresh air. As you outlined, and I won't repeat it, uh the accomplishments you did so with the same resources as your predecessor roughly. Is that correct? >> I believe so. Yes. And so how much of that uh has to do with taking people out of the backside of the FBI and moving them into the field into doing the job for which we primarily pay the FBI. >> That's exactly what we needed done. Onethird of the FBI's workforce resided in the National Capital Region before I got there. Onethird of the crimes do not happen in Washington DC. >> Not anymore. >> Not anymore. So 1,000 personnel of the FBI were deployed across this country on a permanent basis. And every single state in this union is getting a plus up, not a reduction, a plus up of 1811s, of intel analysts and support staff. And that is why the crime rates are going down in record numbers. Well, >> thank you for doing that. And and you know, it's it's perhaps the hardest thing for a bureaucrat to do is to lower the headcount around them that support them. And I appreciate your willingness to do it different than your predecessor. you you a lot of what you you uh covered earlier was the find the discovery and then the prosecution that is done by the DOJ but I want to talk a little bit about the prevent side >> on the Charlie assassination sir >> no no on all of these >> okay >> okay for example and I'll bring it up before the Democrats bring it up January 6th January 6th we now know because of your find that in fact there were people involved D who were not just observers but participants who in fact it's been alleged and I I personally believe in fact were part of promoting perhaps even uh the one woman who died encouraging her to walk through a door that led to her death. when you see that kind of activity and you know it was done under predecessors with full knowledge whether it's January 6th where embedded people cross the line or any other activity uh including obviously the the the Russian hoax that we're now dealing with up in you know front and center. My question to you is what can you or others do to prevent it from occurring again? Not on your watch but on future watches. How can we know that this won't happen again the moment you leave the FBI? >> It's simple. What I'm doing through our leadership cadre is having FBI agents do what they were trained to do, not what they were not trained to do, not put them in situations that both harm them and the public. We're also utilizing our sort networks and prioritizing the threat structure to go after the narot traffickers, the counterterrorism people, the counter intelligence threats, and the cyber threats. That's what they were trained to do and that's what we're letting them do. One major question I have after decades of doing this on each on the our side of it both the chairman myself and others both at oversight and here have seen that the FBI and the department of justice hide behind non-stutory practices. Now you've changed the interpretation of many of those practices. That's why we're getting the discovery that was previously withheld. How do we work together to make sure that we never again have false walls, non-stutory walls that say the Department of Justice has a has a prohibition about giving quote, you fill in the blank that has led to the chairman not seeing anything until you took over. >> I'm wedded to aggressive constitutional oversight. Having been a House congressional staffer, I know that is an important part of securing our democracy. And the way we make it an everlasting enduring process is by showing the American people the results of what we are doing and the important work of this committee and putting it out to them so they can see government waste, fraud, and abuse and then they can demand from our constituents and our electors that they want this process to continue. >> Last major question here. Some things are so sensitive that we both would agree they cannot be made public. Will you commit to this committee when it is too sensitive to dis to disclose that you would at least make it available for inc camera review by the chairman and ranking members or others designated? >> I have done that and I will continue to do that. >> Well, thank you Mr. Chairman. This is a breath of fresh air. This is the beginning of what we need. But my questions today uh for the director are ones in which I believe that we do need to codify by agreement or by statute if necessary the kind of openness and transparency that we're seeing from this administration the kind of discovery that's allowing us to do our oversight pro properly and I would hope that uh that that be the followup to this al obviously along with the attorney general and I yield back my 4 seconds. >> Thank you. Gentleman yields back. Gentleman from New York is recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome, Director Patel. In the wake of the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump said, uh, quote, "Violence and murder are the tragic consequences of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and desable way possible." Close quote. I would note for the record that Donald Trump has famously dis demonized practically every person he has ever disagreed with and therefore using his own logic he has put their lives at risk. I should know about two weeks ago when I announced my my decision not to go when I announced my my decision not to seek re-election many people on both sides of the aisle including the chairman offered me well wishes and thank me for my service. Donald Trump, on the other hand, took the True Social to call me a quote psychopathic nut job, among other things. Yesterday, I received a threatening note filled with anti-semitic comments and hateful attacks that mimics some of the same language used by the president. I am sure many of us on this committee face similar threats every day. We have seen political assaults on both the left and the right. the attack on Charlie Kirk, the attempted assassination of the president, the murder of the Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House, the assault on Paul Pelosi, and the attack on the capital on January 6, for example. Director Patel, do you agree that there is political violence from both the left and the right? >> There is too much political violence. >> Do you agree, yes or no, that there's violence? >> There is too much political violence based on ideologies from either side. >> You from either side. Okay. Are you aware of the study by the Kato Institute, a well-known conservative group that found that 69% of the violence is from the right? >> I'm not familiar with that study. >> You're not familiar? Okay. I I I would commend it to you. Are you aware the administration's threatened to use violence as an excuse to crack down on liberty and freedom of speech? >> Say that again. I'm sorry. Are you aware the administration has used has threatened to use violence as an excuse to crack down on liberty and freedom of speech? >> Nobody at the FBI is doing that. >> I didn't ask you about the FBI. I said the administration. >> I speak for the FBI. >> I would like to enter the record article from today's New York Times titled Trump invokes Kirk's killing and justifiing uh measures to silence opponents. In the wake of Charlie Kirk's killing, President Trump and his allies have laid out a broad plan to target liberal groups, monitor speech, revoke visas, and designate certain groups as domestic terrorists. Ask unanimous consent to insert this into the record. >> Thank you. Politicizing the murder of Charlie King to go after free speech is not a legacy I believe Charlie King would have wanted. Moving on, I want to address another topic. The FBI has traditionally played a key role in prosecuting public officials for corruption. But I fear that at a time when the president is accepting planes from cutter for his post-presidential personal use, issuing pardons to major donors, and personally profiting from the office of the presidency, the FBI may be abandoning its commitment to investigating public corruption. Since its creation in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the public integrity section has been one of the crown jewels of the Department of Justice, investigating and prosecuting corruption among the nation's public officials and acting as a key safeguard against politicized prosecutions. This section's work has been supported by an elite squad in the FBI devoted specifically to rooting out corruption. But according to reports, the public integrity section has now been decimated and the FBI's public corruption squad has been dismantled. I would like to submit for the record a New York Times article entitled FBI dismantles elite public corruption squad. I ask unanimous consent. >> Thank you. These actions are an invitation to corrupt politicians to break the law since they know that the government is asleep at the switch. Last month, Senator Warren and I, along with dozens of other members of Congress, wrote to you and Attorney General Bondi expressing grave concern over your decision to effectively legalize corruption and politicize prose prosecutorial decisions. And he ask unanimous consent to enter this letter into the record. >> Thank you. I don't have time today to walk through all your questions, all of our questions and concerns, but will you commit to answering this letter in short order so that we can understand what factors led to this decision and how it has impacted the ability to hold corrupt officials accountable? >> I will review I will review your letter with my team and respond as soon as >> you will respond. Thank you. I yield back uh the balance of my time. >> Gentleman yields back. Gentleman from Arizona is recognized for five minutes. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, director, for being here. I appreciate the the change in uh the FBI and the tone since you've been there. >> Um we heard the ranking member, however, describe uh the FBI under your leadership as being resorting to political enforcement and you personally as being paranoid. I would just suggest that perhaps that is the projections of the ranking member himself and not you, sir. Um, I want to refer to something that was said yesterday in yesterday's hearing by um, Senator Grassly. Uh, he said, "It's well understood that your predecessor left you an FBI infected with politics. At your nomination hearing, he made he gave you records uh, uh, made public records about whistleblowers regarding something called Arctic Frost." Artic Frost was the FBI case opened and approved by anti-Trump FBI agent Theiol. and Artic Frost became Jack Smith's elector case. The new records show that Artic Frost was much broader than just an electoral matter. In fact, it was expanded to Republican organizations. Some examples of the groups that the Ray FBI sought to place under political investigation included the Republican National Committee, Republican Attorneys General's Association, and Trump political groups. In total, 92 Republican targets, including Republican groups, Republican linked individuals, were placed under the investigative scope of Artic Frost. On that political list for investigation was one of Charlie Kirk's groups, Turning Point USA. In other words, Artic Frost wasn't just a case to politically investigate Trump. It was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus. I'd ask that, Mr. Chairman, that that document be admin without >> objection. >> So, um I I know that this may be under current investigation, but I wish to ask specific questions about this for just a moment. What search tools were used in Arctic Frost to view private communications of targets? I believe uh the traditional search tools, search warrants, lawful service of process and the and the um tools that the FBI has in our infrastructure systems, cyber security systems, and counter intelligence systems. But generally speaking, if I may, I want to use this to highlight the fact that I'm continuing my promise to work with Congress to produce documents simultaneously and also conduct ongoing investigations. I'm giving you as much as I can and I'll give you more when I can. >> Thank you. Uh, another question regarding that is, were there any directives from the Biden White House concerning the Arctic Frost investigation? >> Were there any sorry communicate uh, directives or communications from the Biden White House itself uh, concerning the Arctic Frost investigation? >> I'll just rely on what was turned over to date, sir. >> Okay. So, I I want to I want to add here um, the search warrants that were used included the seizing of a US member of Congress his phone. I think we all know who that was and uh how that was taken away and used for political purposes. M Mr. Chairman, Mr. Director. So, we'll leave that for a second and let's go over to um uh the the Charlie Kirk case for just a second. Let's let's emphasize this. Uh how many hours did it take from the assassination to the arrest of the assassin, Mr. Director? >> 33. That seems uh pretty swift and it was because of the the actual release of videos and photographs that you you directed to be released, sir. >> That's correct. And to put in perspective, the Boston bomber took 5 days and Luigi Manion took 5 days. >> Was the platform Discord forthright from the start with law enforcement about the shooters communications on its platform? Discord the platform ownership has been working with our lawful process and we are obtaining materials from them on a rolling basis. >> Thank you. And um I want to get back here to uh artic frost for just a second. Mr. Chairman, I'd like the um unclassified document from the FBI released uh to be admitted to the record. >> Not objection. >> And a document uh from the Economic Times also to be admitted to the record. >> Not objection. So, um, I'm going to give you the last 30 seconds. We could go on about the Epstein Epstein case. I've got a bunch about that, but I'm just going to let you, if you wish to respond to either of the, uh, two vitriolic um, questioning or statement from the Democrats. >> The work of the FBI speaks for itself. It's on showcase here today. Anyone that wants to attack the FBI can attack me, but leave our leadership structure alone. When you have 23,000 violent felons arrested, twice as many as this time last year, the work speaks for itself. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you. Appreciate your good work. Uh uh Director Patel, yield back. >> Gentleman yields back. Gentleman from Maryland's recognized. >> Thank you kindly, Mr. Chairman. Uh Director Patel, before you joined the FBI, you railed against it for covering up Jeffrey Epstein's human trafficking ring. Let me refresh your memory with this clip. >> It has Epstein's list. They're sitting on it. That doesn't seem like something you should do. you're protecting the world's foremost predator. That seems like an evil thing to do. Regardless of who may be embarrassed in the release of that list, why is the FBI protecting the greatest pedest um the the largest scale pedest in human history? >> Simple. Because of who's on that list. >> So, you finished that December 2023 interview with a challenge to the FBI and harsh words for Republicans in Congress for not getting the Epstein files out to the public. You can see this clip. boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are. >> Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are. You said you emphasized that the president and FBI director each had complete authority to release Epstein's client list. You said Epstein's black book is under the quote direct control of the director of the FBI. Look at this clip. >> This is way off the topic, but who has Jeffrey Epstein's >> black book? >> Blackbook. >> FBI. But who that is? That that I mean there's >> Well, that's under direct control of the director of the FBI. >> All right. So, you were sworn in as director more than 200 days ago. Now, the black book is under your direct control. So, why haven't you released the names of Epstein's co-conspirators in the rape and sex trafficking of young women and girls? >> The Rolodex, which is what everybody colloquially refers to as the black book, has been released. >> Oh, no. You're talking about what the journalist got 5 years ago. No, that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about what you were talking about there. The black book under the direct control of the FBI director. >> We have released more material than anyone else before. The Biden administration, Obama administration had the exact opportunities to release this material and they never did. And if you are selling the men and women of the FBI, we're not going after child. Hang on. You said we're not going after child predators. 1500 child predators arrested this year. 35% increase. 4,700 child. I'm going to reclaim my time if you could instruct the witness. Um, why have you changed your position there? You were saying it's under the direct control of the FBI director and all of it should be released. Why? Why have you changed? >> Everything that has been lawfully permitted to be released has been released. And as I told you, the investigation was limited. And let me make something crystal clear. I never said Jeffrey Epstein didn't traffic other people, other women, and they're not other victims. This is the investigation we were given from 2006,7 and 8. and the search warrants from 2006,7 and 8. That's what we're working with. >> Wait, have you released all of the stuff that the FBI has seized from Epstein's house? The computers, the emails, the file cabinets, the documents. What about the financial records? Have you released all of that? >> Everything the court has allowed us to release. >> Which court are you talking about? >> Three separate federal courts have come in and said, >> "We're talking about the evidence you've got. It's got nothing to do with what those courts have. >> Do you have any law works? Wait a minute. You want me to break the law in a federal judge's order? >> No, I want you to follow your own word, Director Patel. You said up there it was under the direct control of the FBI director. He had the black have direct control over, we have gone to court. You have >> complete your sentence. Everything you have direct control over, you said >> have gone to court and everything we have direct. >> Complete your sentence. You said everything we release, we're releasing. He'd like to complete his answer. You you began the sentence. Everything you have direct control over I and then you stopped that sentence. You've released everything that you have direct control over. >> I have direct control over and can lawfully release. If you're not familiar with the court orders, that's not my fault. I'm perfect. I I'm perfectly familiar with them. But how did we prosecute um Galain Maxwell? She was she was prosecuted with the investigatory material that was collected from 2001 and 2005 because of the nonprosecution agreements and the court orders on the investigations and search warrants. We were not able to develop new information. And oh by the way, Jeffrey Epstein was out for 12 years and the Obama and Biden administration did nothing to look at his work, his pedophile network. If you want to blame me, that's fine. But now you're blaming the men and women who conducted this >> I'm not blaming anybody other than you. You're not keeping your word. You said that you would release all of the materials on >> Has anyone released more information on Epste than I have? >> Has anyone much more Comey did >> much much more I'm excuse me much more has come out in the days since the American people in Congress have been demanding it. But it's coming out in dribbs and drabs. Why don't you just release the entire file as you promised to do? I literally just told you there are multiple federal court orders. I'm not going to break the law to satisfy your curiosity. You didn't join us when we filed court to release the court orders. You could have You have lawyers. You could have shown up. You didn't do that. That >> That's a tiny fraction of the material we're talking about. It is a tiny fraction. >> How do you know that? Have you seen everything? It's all misdirected. Time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from California is recognized. >> Well, thank you, Mr. Director. Just to be clear, how many of the Epstein files were released in the four years of the Biden administration? >> Zero. >> And how many have you released? I I don't have the number, but it's got to be thousands of pages of stuff. I >> I was going to ask you uh to begin uh whether Americans are safer today than they were 9 months ago, but you cited dramatic increases in criminal arrests since you've taken office, a dramatic decrease in crime that's resulted. Who would have thought that taking criminals off the streets would reduce the crime rate? But but uh somehow we have stumbled upon that that new truth. But it begs the question, what was the FBI doing during the four years of the Biden administration to to to to see that dramatic an increase in work under under your tenure? >> The simple answer is I'm letting good cops be cops. We're working with our state and local law enforcement. We're energizing our partnerships. We're bringing on more task force officers. When you have more cops in the streets, when you're using groundbased intelligence, when you're not weaponizing law enforcement and focusing on DC and focusing on the rest of America, this is what happens. It is not a significant mind shift in terms of how we maneuver the FBI. They've wanted to do this work since they signed up. We're just letting them. >> And uh we we've seen many prominent Democrats oppose your efforts to restore law and order to the streets of our nation's capital. I mean all of us here have seen a dramatic change for the better uh here in Washington DC. Why are so many Democrats attacking you for that? >> Sir, Democrats have been attacking me for a decade as is the fake news media. They didn't like the fact that I exposed the Russia gays host and the largest weaponization of the FBI DOJ in US history. We proved it to be true with congressional oversight. I'm wed to that congressional oversight and will continue to do that work. Uh Christopher Ray repeatedly warned this committee that the Biden open borders policy had produced a significant increase in terrorist threats that he said kept him up at night. Um a particular concern he said was the 2 million gotaways that entered the country during the Biden administration. That's a an average of 41,000 every month. Uh what are the monthly gotaway numbers today? Sir, I'll have to get back to you on the exact gotaway numbers, but identifying that there are gotaways is step one. Going and manhunting them is step two, and that's what we're committing our resources to. >> Well, that's that's my next question is is what progress is administration made in apprehending and removing terrorist threats that came in during the Biden years. >> I think you're talking about if you're not, let me know known or suspected terrorists. And we've encountered almost zero at the southern border since the southern border has been sealed. But the problem that we are running into is our northern border. It's largely expansive. The enemy has adapted and we need more focus on the northern border to stop known or suspected terrorists from coming in from places like China, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, Afghanistan. >> And what can you tell us about the remaining threat posed by potential terrorist cells here in the United States? >> The the terrorist threat that is continues to be posed by international terrorists here in the United States is one of my highest priorities. We are working through our intelligence community partners to identify those individuals and we've taken down numerous individuals in numerous rings across this country to neutralize that terrorist threat including places like New York City, Los Angeles and I believe Dallas, Texas most recently. H >> how extensively did criminal cartels like Sinaloa, Haliscoco, New Generation, MS-13, Terren Aagua and others infiltrate our country during the Biden administration? >> By the tens of thousands. What and what progress uh have you been making in combating their presence? >> I think the DHS is best to speak to that, but I think uh I can't remember the numbers of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of individuals they found that came in illegally and the tens of thousands at associations, the criminal networks have all been deported. >> And that effort is being opposed every step of the way by Democratic leaders in our cities, some of our states, and right here in the Congress. Isn't that true? >> Well, we're just working where we can in every single city we can. and I welcome the opportunity to partner with Republicans or Democrats on fighting violent crime like we're doing. >> Mr. Biggs asked about Arctic Frost. What else can you tell us about that and what we need to do to asssure that it never happens again? >> Continue the congressional oversight work that you're doing on Arctic Frost. Let me provide you with more documentation on Arctic Frost and also call in witnesses from the paperwork that we have given you. Uh you have that right and the American public deserves to hear what those people have to say. As for my ongoing investigation, there's not much I can say. What um role did u the FBI play in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2024 election? >> Off the top of my memory, sir, um I believe the FBI u was in possession of verified information from that laptop and it was improperly publicized that they did not have information and masked it as Russian disinformation. We now know that was categorically false. I don't know why the FBI did that, when they did that, but we've released all the materials related to that. >> Thank you. Gentleman yields back. The gentleman from New York is recognized. Mr. Goldman, >> Mr. Patel, does Donald Trump appear anywhere in the Epstein files? >> I'm sorry. Could you say that again? >> It's not a complicated question. Does Donald Trump appear anywhere in the Epstein files? >> I didn't say it was a complicated question. I just didn't hear you. So, my apologies. Um, we have released uh where Mr. where President Trump's names in the Epstein files and everybody else um and all credible information that we are illegally allowed to release has been released. >> All right. So, let's go through that. You're you're referring to court orders that prohibit you from releasing grand jury testimony under rule 6E. Is that what you're referring to when you say as a law allows? >> That's a piece of it. >> Really? What other what other evidence does the do those three court orders you cited pro prohibit from being released? >> Information that was collected pursuant to those search warrants that were limited fashion. >> Wrong. That's not what the court order says and that's not under 6E. >> And you're talking and I said that's 6E and I said there was others and I'm answering that there are sealed court order documents. There are protective orders for >> they are unsealed as part of discovery given to Gileain Maxwell. They are no longer sealed. >> That's just not true. We can argue about it all you want. >> Okay. Well, you agree that there are So your Wait, your testimony here is that the reason why you are not releasing all of the videos that you have acknowledged there are so many and that the FBI spent thousands of hours of reviewing the photographs, all of the and the photographs that you have. You're saying that you're not releasing those because there's a court order requiring them to be sealed. Is that your testimony? >> Never said that about the videos. In the totality of the videos, of the thousands of images that were seized pursuant to the search warrants executed at the time, the overwhelming majority of that video is pornographic material that was downloaded from the internet and child sexual abuse material. We will never release that. Well, as you should not release the victims, but if there are videos that relate to others who Epstein trafficked to, such as maybe Prince Andrew or photographs that you have total control to release. >> Yes. And if it exists, >> so why haven't you released it? >> Why are you supposing that that is a fact when in fact it is false? Are you saying that >> you're saying that none of the videos relate to anything relevant to the Jeffrey Epstein trafficking group? >> Every single video that we have collected pursuant to the prior search warrants has been examined for the last 10 years and every single video has been utilized for whatever prosecutions were able to be legally brought. >> I'm not asking about prosecutions. I'm asking about why you aren't releasing the full Epstein files, including the names of people who were involved in the sex ring that you promised to do before you became FBI director. >> I just told you I'm not going to release downloaded porn. >> I'm not asking about that. Fine. I'm asking about all the other files. >> What other videos? Tell me. Tell me. >> You're That's what I'm asking. You're saying there are no videos that would be relevant to anyone else involved in the Jeffrey Epstein sex >> pursuant to Mr. Aosta's collection of information based on the search warrants. That's all we have in our possession. >> And I'm I'm asking you that stuff. >> That's all we got. >> I'm not asking all you got. I'm asking you in that stuff. There's nothing that's related to the uh to any other sex traff any other people engaged with Epstein in underage sex. >> That's correct. To my knowledge, no. >> Okay. Let's talk about the witness interviews. 302s of witness interviews. Those are not subject to the court order. Those are not subject to any fictional sealed order for a search warrant. Why aren't you releasing those with the redacted names of the victims? >> We are releasing as much as legally allowed. That's why we went back. >> How is that? How is that not legally allowed? >> Sir, do you know how court orders work? Do you know how protective orders work? >> Actually, Mr. Patel, I was a prosecu a real prosecutor for 10 years. I know exactly how. So, I was a fake one >> and I want to understand what the court order prevents you from releasing witness statements that the FBI took. >> You should know that as a real prosecutor when the court hand downs a protective order and a motion to seal the material is sealed unless that >> your testimony here is that all of those witness statements are under a court order, a protective order. We are providing everything we can legally provide. >> No, that's not my question. My question is why are those witness statements that are not grand jury testimony that if they were under a protective order are no longer under a protective order? Why are they not being released? >> How are they not under protective? >> Why are you not going to the court like you did for the grand jury testimony to unseal those records? >> The DOJ did go to the court. >> No, not on those records. Why aren't you going? You just went on grand jury. Time of the gentleman is expired. The >> You are hiding the Epstein files, Mr. >> Time of the Gentleman is expired. >> You are part of the cover up. >> Can I respond? You >> sure can. Any allegations that I'm a part of a cover up to protect child sexual trafficking and victims of human trafficking and sexual crimes is patently and categorically false in the work of my >> So I hope you will talk to them when they have requested to speak with you. The victims have you not responding to them? >> Director, yes or no? Is the FBI still spying on parents at schoolboard meetings? Uh, no sir. >> Is the FBI still targeting Catholics? >> No, sir. >> Is the FBI still spying on President Trump? >> I don't believe so. >> Is the FBI still censoring Americans? >> Uh, no sir. >> Is the FBI still targeting Americans for shopping at Cabelas or purchasing Bibles? >> Nobody is targeted for their faith. >> Is the FBI still targeting Americans who are pro-life? >> Nobody is targeting anyone for their belief. >> Is the FBI still cooking the books on crime data? >> The crime data is real. Is the FBI still purging agents for conservative viewpoints? >> No one at the FBI has asked their viewpoints on >> Is the FBI still labeling the Betsy Ross flag, the flag of the American Revolution, a hate symbol? >> No. >> Well, maybe that's why you've been able to What was the number? 23,000 bad guys you've arrested. A huge increase from the same time period in the previous administration. I th