(NEXSTAR) — During a second day of questioning on Capitol Hill, FBI Director Kash Patel was again grilled by lawmakers on his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Patel appeared before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday for a hearing on FBI oversight, the day after a similar hearing in the Senate that also turned contentious at times.
Patel testified that he did not know how many times President Donald Trump’s name appeared in the Epstein files.
“I have never spoken to President Trump about the Epstein files,” Patel also told the panel.
Patel also testified that Trump was never an FBI informant in the case.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) joined the Democrats on the panel in questioning Patel on Epstein.
Massie is trying to force a House vote on a bill that requires all the Epstein files be released.
When Massie pressed Patel on whether he would meet with Epstein victims, Patel provided a noncommittal answer, saying “the FBI and the professionals who are handling the cases will.”
Meanwhile, other Republicans pushed back against Democrats’ focus on the case and praised Patel’s work leading the FBI.
“My Democratic colleagues are so concerned now, Mr. Patel, all of a sudden,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-New Jersey). “Where were they last year? Where were they the year before?”
“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,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, lawmakers also asked Patel what the FBI is doing to curb political violence.
The agency is focused on “following the money,” Patel explained.
“What we are doing is finding the people that supported this infrastructure system because even when you say there’s a ‘lone-wolf actor,’ he’s not truly a lone-wolf actor,” he said. “Something happened along the way.”
Patel was also asked about other crimes, including the pipe bombs that were left outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021, hours before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. No one was ever charged. Patel told the panel the FBI has “made progress” in its investigation.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
