(Washington) Under the fire of criticisms for his management of the file of sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein and his hazardous communication in the investigation into the assassination of the ultra -conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, the director of the FBI, Kash Patel, defended himself on Tuesday against the Senate.
This hearing before the Senate’s judicial commission on his action at the head of the American federal police, before that of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, comes a few days after his premature announcement on the arrest of a suspect in the investigation into the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who relaunched criticisms on his skills for this strategic position.
His authority is all the more started since the base of President Donald Trump reproaches him, as well as the Secretary of Justice, Pam Bondi, their management of the Jeffrey Epstein case, a sexual offender who died in prison in August 2019 before his trial for sexual exploitation.
“Apart from himself, there is no credible information, none,” replied Kash Patel, questioned by a member of the Commission on the possible existence in the file of elements according to which Jeffrey Epstein would not be alone in being guilty of sexual exploitation on his victims.
“If there were some that he gave them to other individuals, I would have already engaged the proceedings for a long time,” said the director of the FBI. “So the answer is not for the information we have in the file,” he insisted.
In July, the Department of Justice and the FBI had jointly announced that it had discovered any new element in this file which would justify the publication of additional documents, ulcerating the conspiratorial fringe of the Trumpist Maga movement (“Make America Great Again”) which awaited shattering revelations in the Epstein case.
FBI “purge”
Kash Patel is also castigated for burst on X, just a few hours after the assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, that the alleged perpetrator of this “atrocious murder” was in detention, burning politeness to the authorities on the spot, much more circumspect. He had to be drawn after an hour and a half announcing that this suspect, put out of the question, had been released.
He even claims a central role in the surrender of the alleged murderer, Tyler Robinson, recognized by his father on the video surveillance images disseminated by the authorities, and who must be presented to a judge for the first time on Tuesday.
Tyler Robinson’s contacts on the Discord platform, which could have known his projects, “are currently the subject of investigations and interrogation,” he said on Tuesday before the senatorial commission.
Kash Patel also denied during this hearing the accusations of political “purge” in the ranks of the FBI, ensuring that dismissals obeyed only professional competence criteria.
In a civilian complaint last week, three FBI leaders abruptly dismissed in August accuse him of having “politicized” this agency to please his superiors, including Donald Trump.
They say they were sanctioned in particular for their opposition to the dismissal of agents whose only wrong was to be considered insufficiently aligned on the priorities of the new administration or having been publicly denounced by the supporters of the Republican President.
One of them, Brian Driscoll, Director of the acting FBI during the first month of Donald Trump’s mandate, until the entrance to Kash Patel, said he tried to dissuade him from dismissing an agent.
“The FBI tried to put the president in prison and he did not forget him,” replied Kash Patel, saying he is obliged to keep his post to return all those who worked on criminal procedures against Donald Trump before his election, according to the complaint.
