‘You are a disgrace’: Chaos at Senate hearing as Kash Patel defends FBI in Charlie Kirk case

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Kash Patel faced the heat of Democrats at a fiery Senate hearing over the agency’s handling of Charlie Kirk’s murder investigation, along with questions about his leadership.

Patel sparred with the Senate members, saying that it was “disgusting” that his experience was being undermined and defended the FBI’s probe into Kirk’s death and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, accused Patel of inflicting “untold damage on the FBI” and putting national security and public safety at risk with an “unprecedented purge of FBI officials.”

Why was Patel under fire for Kirk probe?

Patel has been criticised in particular for his actions in the aftermath of the assassination of Kirk during a speaking event at a Utah university.

On the night Kirk was killed, Patel dined at the exclusive New York City restaurant Rao’s. That evening, he posted on X that “the subject for the horrific shooting” was “in custody.” About 90 minutes later, he updated that the individual had been released.

The following day, Patel flew to Utah, where the killing took place. Since then, he has promoted routine investigative actions, such as the release of suspect photos, a standard procedure for the bureau. During an initial appearance alongside Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, to ask for the public’s help in locating the shooter, Patel made no statement.

At a subsequent press conference on Friday, after a 22-year-old suspect was turned in by a family friend and arrested, Patel praised Trump, attributing the arrest to the former president’s support for the bureau.

‘No credible information’

Patel was also asked by both Republican and Democratic senators about Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose case has become a political lightning rod for the Trump administration.

Patel said there is no “credible information” in the law enforcement files he has seen that Epstein trafficked young women to other individuals.

“There is no credible information, none,” Patel said. “If there were I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals.”

Some of Donald Trump’s fiercest supporters have tracked the Epstein case for years, believing “deep state” elites have been protecting Epstein associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood.

Patel angered many Trump loyalists with a memo in July that effectively closed the investigation into Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking of underage girls.

With inputs from AFP