What we covered
• Long Day: FBI Director Kash Patel testified before the House Judiciary Committee for nearly 5 hours Wednesday, his second long day on Capitol Hill in a row.
• Epstein files: The Justice Department’s handling of the so-called Epstein Files took center stage, as Democrats pressed Patel on his previous statements about a cover-up and ask why more documents haven’t been released.
• Senate hearing: Tuesday, Patel testified and took questions yesterday about the probe into conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s murder. He said the FBI is interviewing more than 20 people who participated in an online chat with the suspect Tyler Robinson. According to charging documents, Robinson confessed in a series of messages sent to his roommate after the attack.
Five takeaways from a five-hour hearing
While Jeffrey Epstein was an occasional subplot during FBI Director Kash Patel’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, it was a huge focus of his appearance in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, which frequently turned heated.
* The director was repeatedly evasive when the subject turned to President Donald Trump’s proximity to the files.
* Patel was willing to address Trump’s proximity to Epstein in another way – in a way beneficial to the president, saying there were no questionable photos of Trump with underage girls.
* He was cautious when asked about other Epstein trafficking victims, however.
* Democrats left no doubt they intend to keep pushing the Epstein files issue.
* Patel said he’d investigate the Trump entry in Epstein’s “birthday book.” (Trump denies it was his.)
JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon: Bank willing to comply with any Epstein-related subpoenas
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday the bank would comply with any demands from lawmakers for information about Jeffrey Epstein, a former client, if legally required.
Leaving a lunch with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, the businessman told reporters the bank regretted “any association with” Epstein at all, and said of the possibility of a subpoena, “if it’s a legal requirement, we’re going to conform to it, you know, and we have no issue with that. I think what happened to those women is terrible, and any role we played in it.”
He went on to say, “But I should point out for you guys the government knew about his crimes way before everybody else, so they knew, they should have closed it down way before.”
Epstein’s financial records have been of interest to lawmakers. Dimon’s comments came shortly after the top Democrat on the House Judiciary committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, moved for the panel to issue a subpoena to JPMorgan and other banks associated with Epstein. The GOP-controlled committee voted down the request on a 20-19 vote.
Committee votes to block Democratic move to subpoena banks connected to Epstein
The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to block a Democratic motion to subpoena four banks for records related to the late child sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
In a 20-19 vote, the GOP-controlled panel decided to table a subpoena request made by the top Democrat on the panel, Jamie Raskin.
Raskin asked the GOP-controlled committee to subpoena the CEOs of JP Morgan, the Bank of New York, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank to turn over the “suspicious transaction reports” the banks have flagged for Epstein’s accounts.
“These four banks have flagged to the government $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions related to the sex trafficking crimes and conspiracy of Epstein, (Ghislaine) Maxwell and all of their collaborators,” Raskin said.
In a separate 23-16 vote, the panel also decided to table its consideration of a separate subpoena request proposed by Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon. That subpoena would have been for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to produce “all suspicious activity reports” in the possession of his department that identify the more than $1 billion in suspicious transactions from Epstein’s various bank accounts.
Before adjourning, the panel also rejected consideration of a proposed subpoena for FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino to produce records related to Epstein and one for the top official at the Bureau of Prisons to provide materials stemming from the transfer of Maxwell to a minimum-security prison camp after she sat for a lengthy interview with a top DOJ official.
The votes were held at the end of the hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel, which ran roughly five hours.
This post has been updated with additional developments.
Patel says he'll look into Epstein 'birthday book' letter from Trump
During the oversight hearing of the FBI in the House Judiciary Committee, Director Kash Patel said he would investigate the release of a letter purportedly from Donald Trump found in a “birthday book” of Jeffrey Epstein.
The letter, recently released by the House Oversight Committee, features a silhouette of a woman’s body with an apparently imagined conversation between Trump and Epstein inside the drawing.
Trump has denied that the letter was his.
In the afternoon of Wednesday’s hearing, Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz asked Patel whether he would “be opening up an investigation into the Epstein estate for putting out a fake document with the president’s signature linking him to the world’s largest pedophile ring?”
“On what basis?” Patel asked.
“On what basis?” Moskowitz responded. “They literally put out a fake document, according to the president, with a fake signature. It’s a forgery of the president of the United States’ signature. That’s the basis.”
“Sure, I’ll do it,” Patel said.
Catch up on the first 4 hours of the House hearing with Kash Patel
For the second day in a row, FBI Director Kash Patel has spent hours going toe-to-toe with Democrats over a litany of hot-button issues, engaging in heated exchanges about Jeffrey Epstein, political violence in America and the alleged weaponization of the nation’s premiere law enforcement agency.
Today’s hearing before the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee has also featured steady praise from the panel’s Republicans for Patel’s work so far this year, including his decision to shift the bureau’s focus onto issues like immigration.
Here are some highlights.
The Epstein files:
The Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein affair has featured prominently, primarily in exchanges with Democrats.
In one notable moment, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal accused Patel of creating a “giant cover-up” of the Epstein files after suddenly discovering “Donald Trump’s name was all over these files.”
The congresswoman’s questioning – which did not include clear evidence for the accusation – led to a heated shouting match between the two, with Patel defending his bureau’s work on the issue.
At another point in the hearing, Patel was noncommittal on whether he would meet with Epstein’s victims, saying only that members of the bureau would meet “with anyone who has new information.”
Charlie Kirk shooting
The assassination last week of conservative activist Charlie Kirk also loomed large over the hearing, with Democrats repeatedly trying to get Patel to agree that it was the latest episode in a string of violence toward individuals across the political spectrum.
Before the questioning even began, Patel used his opening statement to take credit for the bureau’s decisions that he said helped led to the identification of Kirk’s alleged assassin.
“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,” Patel said, referring to the parents of the accused shooter.
Republicans focus on successes
The committee’s Republicans have mostly followed the lead of Chairman Jim Jordan, asking the director to elaborate on the successes he previously touted and posing rhetorical questions.
“Should research universities across the United States be doing a thorough job of vetting Chinese nationals that are coming to their universities?” one Republican lawmaker asked, citing arrests of Chinese nationals who allegedly attempted to smuggle dangerous biological pathogens into the US.
“They should,” Patel answered plainly.
In his opening, Jordan ticked through long-held criticisms of past FBI and CIA directors and praised Patel for his work over the past several months and during Trump’s first administration.
Senate Judiciary Republicans call on DOJ to release all Epstein files: "This issue isn't going away"
Republicans who sit on the Senate Judiciary Commitee urged the Trump administration to release all files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, one day after FBI Director Kash Patel vowed the agency would share everything that it was “legally permitted” to.
Hawley added that he doesn’t “think this needs to be a big deal.”
“Just release everything that — release everything you can,” he said, adding that he also supported the release of files related to the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy.
Sen. John Kennedy, who pressed Patel on Epstein during yesterday’s Senate Judiciary hearing said he’s not “satisfied or dissatisfied” with the FBI director’s responses, explaining, “I have no way of evaluating his answers because we haven’t seen the files.”
Kennedy said he’s looking at the issue through the lens of the American people, whom he argued were following the case closely.
“I certainly don’t want to see victims be hurt, but I think the American people are entitled to know, and President Trump has said, look, I’m going to turn this issue over to the Justice Department, and they’re going to decide how to release the files,” he said.
“I wanted to use my time yesterday to encourage the director to release the files and to, to remind him that at least in one senator’s opinion, this issue isn’t going away.”
Rep. Jayapal is latest Democrat to accuse Patel of helping Trump in Epstein files
Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal accused FBI Director Kash Patel of creating a “giant cover-up” of the Epstein files after suddenly discovering “Donald Trump’s name was all over these files.”
The congresswoman’s questioning – which did not include clear evidence of the accusation – led to a heated shouting match between the two in one of the most dramatic displays of the political divide at play during Wednesday’s hearing.
Jayapal also claimed that Patel “appeared to say that the survivors were not credible” in the Epstein case earlier in the hearing.
“That’s not at all what I said,” Patel said, adding “don’t lie about me.”
The lawmaker told Patel that some alleged victims of Epstein have not testified before, asking Patel why he had not met with them.
“Is the answer yes or no to whether or not you met with these women who were sexually abused and raped?” Jayapal said, pounding her open hand on the desk.
“Any insinuation by you or any people on your side that I am not manhunting child predators and sex traffickers, just look at the stats,” Patel said.
The FBI director added later that “we have routinely asked people to come forward with more evidence and we will look at it.”
“Are you going to continue to cover up for the rich and powerful men – including those who might be on this committee?” Jayapal shouted after Chairman Jim Jordan moved onto the next lawmaker’s questions.
Patel says there are no suggestive photos showing Trump with underage girls
FBI Director Kash Patel said Wednesday that there are not any suggestive photographs of Donald Trump with underage girls, pushing back on claims that Jeffrey Epstein had such images in his possession.
“Are there any photos showing Donald Trump with girls of an uncertain age?” Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu asked Patel during the hearing after he played a video in which the journalist Michael Wolff said Epstein had, years earlier, shown him such photos.
“No,” Patel said, to which the California congressman responded, “How do you know that?”
“Because that information would have been brought to light by multiple administrations and FBI investigators over the course of last 20 years,” the director replied.
Lieu went on to say that it’s possible Epstein’s estate is in possession of the photographs and implored the FBI to get the tapes Wolff has of his interviews with Epstein.
Insults fly in shouting match between Patel and Rep. Eric Swalwell
FBI Director Kash Patel’s second day of hearings continued its descent into tit-for-tat exchanges and circular back-and-forths about the handling of the Epstein files Tuesday as Democrats continued to repeat questions and the director made personal attacks on some lawmakers.
During one exchange, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell pressed Patel again on why the FBI has not released more documents in the Epstein case, asking Patel in slow annunciation: “Did you tell the attorney general that Donald Trump’s name is in the Epstein files?”
“Why don’t you try spelling it out if you’re going to mock me?” Patel replied. “Use the alphabet. No? A, B, C, D, E, F – don’t wanna do it?”
The exchange continued to grow continuous between the two as Swalwell asked the FBI director about a list of names in the appendix of Patel’s 2023 book in which he listed people he believed were part of the so-called deep state.
“I’m going to borrow you’re terminology and call bulls**t on your entire career in Congress,” Patel said when Swalwell asked if the director would recuse himself from any investigations of those individuals mentioned in the list.
“It has been a disgrace to the American people,” Patel said as the two men spoke over each other and more members joined in the fray as Chairman Jim Jordan began hammering his gavel to gain order.
Swalwell asked again if Patel would recuse himself from such investigations.
“No,” Patel said flatly.
Republican pushes FBI to investigate Soros
Republican Rep. Chip Roy pushed FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday to say that billionaire George Soros and leftist organizations have been backing inexperienced prosecutors to lead local district attorneys’ offices.
Roy, citing a report from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, said that progressive districts have “outsourced core parts of the American criminal justice system to activists and political donors” like Soros, a billionaire who is a frequent target of far-right conspiracy theories.
Patel said he was not familiar with the report, but that “if that exists, it is a problem.”
Several Republicans have slammed progressive cities and their district attorneys for being lax on crime and allowing violent criminals to reoffend, with Roy giving the recent example of a fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina by a man who had a history of arrests.
The city’s police department noted, however, that there has been a reduction in crime in the first half of the year.
The lawmaker’s comments also come as President Donald Trump has suggested that Soros and liberal groups should be investigated for allegedly encouraging violence, which critics say is part of the president’s effort to go after political opponents.
Patel noncommittal on whether he’ll meet with Epstein victims
FBI Director Kash Patel was noncommittal when pressed Wednesday on whether he would meet with victims of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Pressed by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie on the possibility of such a meeting, Patel said only that members of his bureau would meet “with anyone who has new information.”
“Will you personally meet with them?” Massie, who represents part of Kentucky, asked Patel, referring to the victims.
“The FBI and the professionals who are handling the cases will,” the director responded.
Massie has been the only Republican to press Patel on Epstein during the hearing thus far.
Republicans keep focus away from Epstein
Republicans have mostly followed the lead of Chairman Jim Jordan during the House Judiciary Committee hearing for FBI Director Kash Patel, asking the director to elaborate on the successes he previously touted and posing rhetorical questions.
“Should research universities across the United States be doing a thorough job of vetting Chinese nationals that are coming to their universities?” one Republican lawmaker asked, citing arrests of Chinese nationals who allegedly attempted to smuggle dangerous biological pathogens into the US.
“They should,” Patel answered plainly.
In his opening, Jordan ticked through long-held criticisms of past FBI and CIA directors and praised Patel for his work over the past several months and during Trump’s first administration.
Democrats – joined by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, have focused their questions on the Epstein files – asking repeatedly why Patel has not released more information as promised.
Patel finds someone to throw under the bus on Epstein
As he’s pressed on the Epstein files, FBI Director Kash Patel is continuing to use a line of response he began yesterday in the Senate hearing, pointing fingers at the original investigation of Epstein by federal prosecutors in the 2000s.
In the Senate and again today in the House, Patel has pointed to Alexander Acosta, who was US attorney in Florida during the George W. Bush administration and cut a nonprosecution agreement with Epstein.
Patel twice brought Acosta up unprompted, including in his opening statement, during Tuesday’s hearing.
“I’m here to testify that the original sin in the Epstein case was the way it was initially brought by Mr. Acosta back in 2006,” Patel said at the beginning of both hearings.
House Democrat asks Patel: “Does Donald Trump appear anywhere in the Epstein files?”
When asked directly Wednesday if President Donald Trump’s name appeared in the so-called Epstein filings, FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had released “all credible information” including where Trump’s name appeared.
“Does Donald Trump appear anywhere in the Epstein files?” New York Rep. Dan Goldman asked the director as the Democrats continued to press on files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“We have released where President Trump’s name is in the Epstein files – and everybody else – and all credible information that we are legally allowed to release has been released,” Patel said.
Goldman then pressed on why Patel wasn’t releasing more information, to which the FBI director responded that all information that the FBI has been able to release has been released, noting that court orders have prohibited further release.
“You are hiding the Epstein files Mr. Patel,” Goldman accused the director.
Patel replied: “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.”
Democrats bring Epstein files to the fore as Patel testifies
House Judiciary Committee Democrats have started a round of questions related to the files of the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Rep. Jamie Raskin played a clip of a podcast appearance from 2023 where Patel stated that the FBI was in possession of Epstein’s infamous “black book.”
“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?” Raskin asked.
Patel quickly became defensive, saying that the Trump administration has released more information regarding the Epstein investigation than any other administration. Patel said that the “Rolodex” information had already been released.
“We have released more material than anyone else. Before the Biden administration, Obama administration, had the exact opportunities to release this material. They never did,” Patel said.
The exchange became heated, as Patel continually attempted to defend his agency’s handling of the Epstein files.
“Do have any idea how the law works?” Patel fired back at Raskin.
This post has been updated to reflect that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are questioning Patel.
Patel pre-empts criticism in opening remarks before House panel
In his opening remarks during the second day of congressional hearings on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel praised the work of the agency under his leadership, highlighting upticks in certain arrests and pre-empting criticism he faced yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senators had repeatedly questioned Patel over decisions to reassign FBI agents for immigration efforts as well as the FBI’s handling the Jeffrey Epstein files’ release.
Patel told House members of the Judiciary Committee that he “was not there” during the initial investigation into Epstein and highlighted that if federal judges allow, the bureau would release more documents related to Epstein.
On criticism that he has moved agents away from key work – such as domestic terrorism – to focus on other efforts, like immigration, Patel said “we had to do it because of the explosion of crime.”
“This is a fiction that the FBI is short or that we are compromising the men and women in the field,” Patel said. “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.”
Raskin says Patel brought “destruction, chaos" to the FBI
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, attacked FBI Director Kash Patel in his opening remarks, saying that his actions have brought “danger” to the country.
“Seven 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,” Raskin said.
Raskin called Patel a “fairytale knight,” saying that he needs to recognize that he’s running one of America’s top law enforcement agencies.
“Your supporters had hoped that you would graduate from imagining yourself a romantic fairytale knight to actually running America’s premier federal law enforcement agency,” Raskin said.
Chairman Jordan starts hearing with litany of criticisms of past FBI directors
Entering the second day of hearings with FBI Director Kash Patel, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan went through a litany of right-wing criticisms of past FBI and CIA directors to set the tone of the hearing.
Jordan criticized the investigation in 2016 into the Trump campaign and Russia, singling out former Directors James Comey and Chris Wray, while praising Patel’s efforts as a congressional staffer to review the investigation as well as Patel’s current leadership of the FBI.
“Now, in addition to getting the truth to the people, Director Patel is getting the bad guys off the street,” Jordan said, highlighting the surge of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington, DC, in recent weeks.
Jordan did not address any current criticisms of Patel, including the recent firing of top FBI officials who accuse Patel of political motivation or Patel’s past handling of investigations and what some have criticized as an over-eagerness to post details of ongoing investigations.
FBI investigating early morning vehicle ramming at its Pittsburgh office
The FBI is searching for a man it says rammed a gate with a vehicle at the Pittsburgh field office early Wednesday morning, an incident it described as a “targeted attack” against the bureau.
At about 2:40 a.m. ET, a man driving a white sedan rammed a vehicle entrance gate at the FBI Pittsburgh office before exiting his car, removing an American flag from the back seat and throwing it on the damaged gate.
The man, who the FBI identified as Donald Henson of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, then fled on foot and remains at large Wednesday morning.
No FBI personnel were injured.
A recap of key lines from Kash Patel's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
FBI Director Kash Patel was defiant during yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as he fielded tough questions about the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s killing and defended recent firings at the bureau.
Patel ran through a timeline of the investigation into Kirk’s alleged killer and touted his own work amid criticism of his early social media posts that caused public confusion.
Patel ended by saying, “I’m not going anywhere. If you want to criticize my 16 years of service, bring it on.”
Here’s a recap of key moments from yesterday’s hearing:
New details in Kirk probe: Patel said the FBI is interviewing more than 20 people who participated in an online chat with suspect Tyler Robinson. According to charging documents, the suspect confessed in a series of messages sent to his roommate after the attack.
Scrutiny over investigation: Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat the committee, ripped Patel for sparking, “mass confusion by incorrectly claiming on social media that the shooter was in custody — which he then had to walk back with another social media post.” Later on, Patel admitted he could have “been more careful in my verbiage” but maintained he was being transparent with the public and giving timely updates.
Democrats slam Patel: New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker got in a heated exchange with the FBI chief and said, “Mr. Patel, I think you’re not going to be around long,” adding “I think this might be your last oversight hearing.” Sen. Adam Schiff and Patel go into a shouting match after the California lawmaker repeated questions on whether the FBI director had fired agents for political reasons and on the bungled release Jeffrey Epstein case files.
Grilled on FBI firings: Patel defended the recent dismissal of two agency officials who are now contesting their firings, saying they “failed to meet the needs of the FBI.” Durbin said it was “disgraceful” that Chris Meyer and Walter Giardina, both of whom are veterans, were terminated “apparently because of the rants of a podcaster.”
GOP lawmakers defend Patel: Top Republicans committee projected confidence in Patel, including Sen. John Cornyn, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Josh Hawley.
Sen. Cory Booker and FBI Director Kash Patel got into a heated exchange during Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing after the New Jersey Democrat said Patel's "failure" as a leader made Americans more vulnerable.
