Swalwell pressed for an answer to the question at least seven times, with the two men repeatedly talking over each other as Patel avoided a direct response.
“Why don’t you try spelling it out if you’re going to mock me?” Patel said. “Use the alphabet. A, B, C … D, E, F.”
Socks worn by FBI Director Kash Patel, as he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).Credit: AP
Swalwell replied: “It sounds like you don’t want to tell us.”
Patel then dodged the question for the seventh time, saying: “Why don’t you try serving your constituency by focusing on reducing violent crime in this country and the number of paedophiles that are illegally harboured in sanctuary cities in California?”
Swalwell noted Patel did not answer the question and said: “We will take your evasiveness as consciousness of guilt.”
Several Democrats grilled Patel during the hearing on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), as did Republican Thomas Massie, who asked Patel about FBI documents summarising interviews with Epstein victims that took place as part of the 2019 sex-trafficking indictment against Epstein.
Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie probed FBI director Kash Patel over Epstein documents possessed by the agency.Credit: AP
“According to victims who co-operated with the FBI in that investigation, these documents in FBI possession – your possession – detail at least 20 men,” Massie told Patel, naming a former banking chief executive who has admitted having sex with a member of Epstein’s staff.
Massie continued: “That list also includes at least 19 other individuals; one Hollywood producer, one royal prince, one high-profile individual in the music industry, one very prominent banker, one high-profile government official, one high-profile former politician, one owner of a car company in Italy, one rock star, one magician, at least six billionaires, including a billionaire from Canada.
“We know these people exist in the FBI files, the files that you control.”
Patel said he had not personally read those interview summaries, known as FD-302 documents, but the FBI had. “Multiple authorities have looked at the entirety of what we have,” he said, and concluded there was no further credible documentation to release.
Four people were arrested after images of Donald Trump alongside sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were projected on to Windsor Castle.Credit: AFP
The day before, he told a Senate hearing there was no credible evidence that Epstein had trafficked girls to anybody else. Patel also confirmed Trump was never an FBI informant.
The continued focus of lawmakers on the Epstein case comes despite Trump trying to shut the matter down, telling NBC News last week that it was a “dead issue”.
Neither has Trump been able to escape the topic while on a state visit to the UK, where activists projected old photographs of Trump and Epstein onto Windsor Castle. Four people were arrested on “suspicion of malicious communications”, police said.
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Massie and Democratic representative Ro Khanna are trying to force a vote in the House of Representatives to compel the release of the files via a mechanism known as a discharge petition, which requires 218 signatures. It would also have to pass the Senate, however.
The House Oversight Committee has already released more than 30,000 documents obtained through a subpoena from the Justice Department, with additional documents expected.
It is also in negotiations to compel Epstein’s former girlfriend and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, to testify before Congress. Epstein died in jail in 2019, awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year jail sentence for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls.
