Under Director Kash Patel, FBI Is Covering Up Trump’s Relationship with Epstein, Sacking Experienced Counterterrorism Agents, and Endangering Public Safety

Washington, D.C. (September 17, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, led Judiciary Committee Democrats in grilling Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel, an inexperienced MAGA sycophant who has used his post to purge the agency of experienced FBI agents for purely political reasons, exact revenge on President Trump’s behalf, and to cover-up Trump’s ties to notorious child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. 

“In a few short months, how did you go from being a crusader for accountability and public transparency for the Epstein Files to being part of the conspiracy and cover-up?” asked Ranking Member Raskin in his opening statement. “The answer is simple, you said it yourself: ‘Because of who’s on that list.’” 

Director Patel continued the Trump Administration cover-up of the Epstein files, refusing to answer pointed questions from Democratic members about how many times Trump appeared in the Epstein files, why he broke his promise to release the files, and whether he had taken steps to investigate Epstein’s co-conspirators, including the billions of dollars in suspicious transactions flagged by some of the largest banks in the world. Despite this lack of answers from the Director, Republicans blocked four Democratic motions to subpoena key information and testimony on Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and the Trump Administration’s cover-up. 

• REPUBLICANS BLOCKED A SUBPOENA INTO EPSTEIN FINANCIALS. Every Judiciary Republican—except for Rep. Thomas Massie—voted against subpoenaing the CEOs of JP Morgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America, and Deutsche Bank for testimony and records regarding $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions related to Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes. Despite Kash Patel stating he is “following the money” in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, he could not even say whether FBI agents had looked into all the suspicious transactions flagged by these four banks.
   
• REPUBLICANS BLOCKED A SUBPOENA FOR TRUMP TREASURY SECRETARY BESSENT. Every Judiciary Republican—except for Rep. Massie—voted against subpoenaing Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to testify before the Committee and produce all suspicious activity reports (SARs) relating to $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions flagged by banks that are related to the sex trafficking crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and their co-conspirators.
   
• REPUBLICANS BLOCKED A SUBPOENA FOR FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR BONGINO’S TESTIMONY ON EPSTEIN FILES COVER-UP. Every Judiciary Republican—except for Rep. Massie—blocked a subpoena to FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino to testify and produce documents related to the Epstein files. The motion explicitly called for Bongino to testify and produce all files related to witness interview records, including FBI Forms 302, all search warrant materials, all records related to the initiation of investigations, all records relating to financial transactions and payments, and all evidence collected from wiretaps in the possession of the FBI. Bongino reportedly considered resigning from his position over Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel’s refusal to release the full Epstein files.
   
• REPUBLICANS BLOCKED A SUBPOENA TO BUREAU OF PRISONS ON GHISLAINE MAXWELL’S CORRUPT TRANSFER TO “COUNTRY CLUB” PRISON. Every Judiciary Republican—except for Rep. Massie—blocked a subpoena to the Director of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to provide testimony, documents, and communications with Department of Justice (DOJ), FBI and the White House related to the abrupt decision by the Trump Administration to transfer convicted sex trafficker, Ghislaine Maxwell, to a minimum-security prison in Texas following her interview with Trump’s former personal defense attorney and current Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The transfer appears to violate both DOJ and BOP policies regarding convicted sex offenders

Kash Patel is aiding the Trump Administration’s cover-up of Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein despite promising he’d release the full Epstein Files. 

• Ranking Member Raskin aired a video clip of Kash Patel from before he started as FBI Director telling right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson that the only reason the list was not released by DOJ and FBI was “because of who’s on that list.” When pressed on why he has not released remaining Epstein Files in the FBI’s possession, Kash Patel falsely claimed that court orders were tying his hands. 
   
• In response to questioning from Rep. Dan Goldman about Kash Patel’s refusal to release the full Epstein Files, Kash Patel refused to answer whether Donald Trump’s name appears anywhere in the files he is withholding from the public and mischaracterized court documents—stating that the documents were “under seal” despite there being no records of any court orders preventing DOJ releasing their investigatory files. To the contrary, courts have encouraged FBI and DOJ to release files in their custody.
   
• When pressing Kash Patel on the diversion of hundreds of FBI agents to cover-up Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Rep. Zoe Lofgren said, “It’s shocking to me that the FBI would think that erasing Trump’s name from the Epstein Files is a high priority, when we have crime, we have national security threats, we have terrorism threats, we have murders such as that that occurred unfortunately with Mr. Kirk. It’s shocking to hear that that’s your highest priority.” 
   
• Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon pushed Kash Patel to investigate Epstein’s bank records, which Patel said he did not know whether FBI agents had examined: “The discussion we’d like to have today is why you aren’t following the money [...] if you wanted to attack the issue, if you wanted to get to the bottom of it, if you wanted to disclose what really was involved in the Epstein files, the Epstein cover-up, that you would be taking very different actions that you are today.” 
   
• In response to questioning from Rep. Eric Swalwell, Kash Patel revealed that he has not even reviewed all of the Epstein Files. Rep. Swalwell said: “You’re the Director of the FBI. This is the largest sex trafficking case the FBI has ever been a part of. Buck stops at the top, and your testimony today is you have not reviewed all the files?” 
   
• Rep. Ted Lieu asked Kash Patel if Donald Trump’s name appears on Jeffrey Epstein’s client list. He flatly refused to answer. Rep. Lieu explained, “America, that’s a huge red flag. The FBI Director could not answer whether Donald Trump was on Epstein’s client list.” 
   
• Rep. Pramila Jayapal pressed Kash Patel about his non-answer to Rep. Massie’s question of whether survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse are credible. Patel became abrasive and then evaded a question about whether he had met, or would be willing to meet with, the many victims of Epstein’s crimes.
   
• In response to Rep. Jared Moskowitz’s questions, Kash Patel committed on the record to investigating the Epstein estate over their release to Congress of a lewd letter from Donald Trump in Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday book, which the President and House Republicans have claimed is a forgery. 
   
• Rep. Hank Johnson asked, bluntly: “Why are you protecting pedophiles?” 

Judiciary Democrats outlined how Kash Patel is making all Americans less safe by hollowing out domestic terrorism, anti-corruption, and core public-safety initiatives and demoting, firing, and punishing nonpartisan career agents and experts.

• When questioned by Rep. Steve Cohen on how many FBI agents have been fired solely because they worked on the January 6 case, Kash Patel could not provide a number and wrongly insisted that no individuals have been fired for their case assignments. Reports make clear that Kash Patel has purged some of the FBI’s most experienced and qualified agents purely because they investigated crimes—most recently firing a number of agents because they worked on investigations of the President.
   
• Rep. Lucy McBath said: “Earlier this year, you [gutted] the ranks of the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Operation Section. This is the section of the FBI that is most directly responsible for addressing political violence in our country by preventing attacks from occurring and effectively responding to them if they do. [...] And instead of ensuring that this section has all the resources that it needs at a time when its mission is critical, you fired its decorated veteran FBI agents who have served their country proudly under Republican and Democratic presidents, and you scrapped the tools that they developed to fight domestic terrorism.” 
   
• Rep. Chuy Garcia pointed to “reports that nearly every agent on Baltimore's domestic unit who was investigating the 764 group of child predators was diverted to work on immigration enforcement full time. That forced them to ‘walk away from investigations of a network of violent predators that targets and exploits children online.’” Kash Patel deflected when asked if he signed off on this.
   
• Rep. Jerry Nadler explained that the Trump Administration’s FBI and DOJ have abandoned their commitment to investigating and prosecuting public corruption: “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. But according to reports, the Public Integrity Section has now been decimated and the FBI’s Public Corruption Squad has been disbanded.”
   
• Rep. Deborah Ross said: “According to a lawsuit filed last week by long-term FBI agents, you fired former acting director Brian Driscoll. He had served with the Bureau for nearly 20 years, earned a Medal of Valor for bravery during the dangerous ISIS raid, and had a wealth of crisis response experience and led the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group. […] You also fired Steve Jensen, who served the FBI for nearly two decades and ran critical terrorism, counterintelligence and organized crime operations, whom you once described as ‘embodying what the American public demands of the FBI.’ But he was fired because he took part in investigating crimes committed on January 6^th.” 
   
• Rep. Jasmine Crockett said: “How are we supposed to have confidence when you’re sitting up here, telling the Senate yesterday that it will take you 14 years before you can get the FBI fully staffed to do their jobs? You’re also now redirecting resources so that they can go and play ICE agents on the streets. You’re getting rid of your most qualified people. And even when it came down to [Charlie Kirk], you were posted up having some fancy dinner to the extent that you posted not only once, erroneously, you posted twice erroneously as it relates to catching somebody.” 
   
• Rep. Becca Balint urged Kash Patel to commit to working to lower the temperature amid a rise in political violence. She pointed out: “Americans are concerned that there seems to be a separate system of justice, that if you are a Republican and you are attacked, you will get the full weight and authority of the FBI and this Administration. But if you are somebody serving in the Minnesota State Legislature and you are assassinated in your home, that the response is different.”
   
• Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove said that an article posted by the DOJ in 2024 regarding domestic radicalization, violent extremism, and terrorism was censored this week by the Trump Administration. She explained: “No one’s job is to like the data or the evidence. It is to collect it. That is how you gain trust.” 
   
• Rep. Lou Correa raised concerns about the redirection of crime-fighting agents to immigration work, leaving local law enforcement stretched thin. Rep. Correa said he spoke with a local sheriff in California who was concerned about how the Trump Administration’s cuts to local grants will affect his work. He asked, “Can you do your job cutting $500 million from your budget?”
   
• Rep. Hank Johnson pressed Patel on his ownership of up to $5 million in stock from the parent company of Shein, a Chinese ecommerce giant with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), despite Patel’s prior statement that “the CCP is adversary of our time.” “If the FBI is charged with investigating economic espionage by companies controlled by the CCP, you’ve got a conflict of interest.” Rep. Joe Neguse pressed Patel on his other financial conflicts of interest, telling the Director, “Given your role as the leader of the largest law enforcement agency in our country, I think not doing day trading right now would be in the interests of the American people.”