FBI Director Slammed for Charlie Kirk Murder Investigation

You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in. the United States Senate. You are a. disgrace to this institution and an. utter coward. You are political buffoon. at best. That was FBI Director Cash. Patel unloading on Senator Adam Schiff. in a Capitol Hill hearing that veered. from the assassination of Charlie Kirk. to the still unanswered questions about. Jeffrey Epstein. Patel was testifying. before the Senate Judiciary Committee. about the two explosive issues and more. And that is when things got pretty fiery. very fast. We are going to break down.

Patel's testimony, the blowback, what. this all means. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Well, this was one of the most charged. oversight hearings in recent memory. FBI. Director Cash Patel testifying under. oath in front of the Senate Judiciary. Committee. Lasted several hours. Senators demanding answers to different. topics. tempers flaring Epstein Charlie. Kirk. So if you didn't see it or you.

want the condensed version of some of. the highlights, here you go. I mean at. one point Battel looks across the deis. at Senator Adam Schiff and. >> you know didn't hold anything back. You. are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the. United States Senate. You are a disgrace. to this institution and an utter coward. You are a political buffoon at best. >> Yeah, we'll uh get there. But first, let's back up. Let's walk through why. this hearing had the nation's attention. Why it all boiled down to two explosive. topics, right? The assassination of.

conservative activist Charlie Kirk and. the still unresolved questions of the. Jeffrey Epstein files. Now, if you. remember on September 10th, just around. noon, Charlie Kirk was gunned down. Within hours, FBI director Cash Patel. made the investigation front and center. He had posted updates in real time on. social media. Something that critics say. that sowed confusion that it may have. jeopardized the case. That was an. allegation. Now, Patel defended his. approach, calling it transparency. And.

when the Senate Judiciary Committee. convened days later, it wasn't just. about the Kirk case. definitely came up. But senators also zeroed in on Patel's. handling of the Epstein files, the. firing of FBI agents, his loyalty to. President Donald Trump. And we're not. going to go down the political rabbit. hole. That's not what Cybar is, but we. will stick directly or strictly to. Patel's testimony as pertains to the. Kirk investigation and to Jeffrey. Epstein. Now, to help you get an. understanding of how charged this was, let's actually start with committee.

chair Dick Durban. Since he's the top. Democrat on the committee, he gave an. opening statement and he wasted no time. setting the tone. He accused Cash Patel. of politicizing the FBI, of running. loyalty tests, of mishandling. communications with the public after. Charlie Kirk's killing. President Biden. retained Director Ray, a lifelong. Republican who was President Trump's. nominee for the office. After his second election, in an.

unprecedented move, President Trump. forced out Director Ray and nominated. Cash Patel, arguably the most partisan. FBI director ever. >> Director Patel came to the FBI with a. political mission, and he spelled it out. in writing in detail. He wrote, "Government gangsters, quote, "The rot at the core of the FBI is not. just scandalous, it's an existential. threat to our Republican form of. government." End quote. And with the.

power of his office and the blessings of. the president, he attacked the FBI with. a vengeance. >> And Durban then went further. He warned. senators not to weaponize political. violence, pointing to the killings of. both Charlie Kirk and Minnesota State. Representative Melissa Hortman, the. latter of whom was shot and killed. alongside her husband at their home. earlier this year. >> The men and women who serve at the FBI. and the American people deserve a. director who has the ability and the.

character to restore the bureau to its. place as the preeminent law enforcement. agency. All of us in public life on both. sides of the aisle have a responsibility. to bring down the temperature and to. work to unite the American people. Let's. be clear. Republicans are not Nazis and. Democrats are not evil as Mr. Patel has. claimed. Democrats are not responsible. for the murder of Charlie Kirk and. Republicans were not responsible for the. murder of Melissa Hortman. Our political.

opponents are not our enemies. We are. all Americans and we should be working. together to keep the American people. safe and protect their constitutional. rights. >> Now, you may think that by watching. Sidebar, you've seen it all, right? Think again. 50 Ways to Catch a Killer. brings you real cases where detectives. had to flip the script to take down. cold-blooded killers. Hosted by 50 Cent. This isn't your typical crime show. It. is a highstakes, twistfilled ride into. the minds of investigators who think. outside the badge to break the case.

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Less than a day later, the FBI at my. direction released the first set of. images of the suspect that we captured. based on our analysis on the ground. Later that evening, while conducting. extensive interviews and cell phone. analysis and also flying out evidence. response teams and hostage rescue teams. and evidence tacticians who were. collecting evidence in live time and. flying them back to Washington DC in our. laboratories for immediate analyses, we. were able to extract video from the. campus feed and at my direction at 8.

p.m. In partnership and promise to. working with the public to bring this. fugitive to justice, we released a newly uh never be never. before seen video of the suspect. We. also released new enhanced photos of the. suspect. A few hours later, that suspect. was in custody pursuant to the. interrogation of the suspect's own. father, who stated, "When I saw that. video that you released, I recognized it. was my son, and I confronted him, and he.

was handed over to lawful law. enforcement authorities." That is the. FBI working with the public, as I. promised, being transparent, and. provided critical information along the. way in the manhunt for the suspect or. suspects involved in Charlie's. misassination. We received over 11,000 tips in the. first 24 hours alone. We received 16,000. submissions to our digital media. enterprise and tip lines. That is a. large number of material to go through. I want to thank President Trump and the.

Attorney General Pam Bondi for their. unwavering support and commitment. resources to this and all. investigations. I also want to. especially thank our colleagues in Utah, the governor's office, DPS, and the. sheriff's out there. state and local law. enforcement partnership has been a. cornerstone since I took over at the FBI. and it was no different here. And our. teams in Salt Lake City, our SACE's out. there across the country, our lab techs. in Quantico who race to complete the. evidence analysis so the public could. have the answers they need. These people. worked through the night without sleep.

for days on end. They are to be. commended. They are not to be attacked. >> And look, it was arguably one of Patel's. strongest moments, right? framing the. FBI's work as fast, coordinated, transparent, and let the record hold. Right. Charlie Kirk suspected killer. Tyler Robinson was apprehended just 33. hours after the shooting. This is a feat. that even Patel's critics on the Hill. had to acknowledge and one he was. congratulated for during this hearing. But Cash Patel also faced some pointed.

questions about social media's role in. political violence. Senator Lindsey. Graham pressed him on whether platforms. like Discord, which you're probably all. familiar with by now, plays a role in. the Kirk case, whether or not that was. radicalizing Americans. >> After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, there seems to be one refrain from. everybody, and that's about the effect. of social media. Do you believe that. social media is one of the instruments.

radicalizing America and inciting. violence? Well, it's not. My belief is. based on the data and the data shows. that social media is wildly out of. control when it comes to radicalizing. >> You're dead right. So, what did he just. say? This guy's the FBI director. He. says that social media is wildly out of. control. Now, free speech, we all agree. with that, but you can't yell fire in. the theater, right? >> Yes, sir. >> Free speech doesn't allow you to go. online and groom a child for sexual.

>> No, it does not. >> Okay. Free speech doesn't allow you to. go on the internet and. basically incite somebody to kill. another person, right? >> Absolutely not. >> So if it's illegal offline, it should be. illegal online. Agreed? Whatever the law. is. >> Yes, sir. >> Just because you're online doesn't give. you a get out of jail free card. >> No sir. >> And when the discussion turned to. Discord, this is the chat platform where. the Kirk suspect Tyler Robinson. allegedly hinted at what he had done or. allegedly confessed. You had Senator.

Josh Holly ask Patel if others were. involved in that chat. And it turns out, according to Patel, there were many. other people involved in that chat. >> Reports have suggested that the FBI is. investigating a broader network of. groups that may have had some knowledge. of the shooters plans. Can you give us. any details on that? Following up what. you've already said in public, how's the. FBI working to find other potential. accompllices, folks who may have known. about the shooter's plans, folks who may.

have encouraged him, any any update on. any of that? So, in terms of what we do. for an interrogation um perspective, we. go and reach out to the family and. community immediately. And we've. conducted those investigations and. interrogations with local law. enforcement and we're continuing to do. that because those closest to the. suspect are going to hopefully know the. most about the suspect and his beliefs. and his ideology. On top of that, um, unfortunately, it has been leaked that. there was a uh a Discord chat and for. those unfamiliar with it, it's a gaming.

chat room online um that the suspect. participated in. So, what we're doing, what we've already done is sort of legal. process, not just on Discord, so that. the information we gathered is sustained. and held in a evidentary posture that we. could use in prosecution should it be. decided to do so. And we're also going. to be investigating anyone and everyone. involved in that Discord chat. >> Okay, very good. I see the public. reports that the Discord thread had as. many as 20 additional users. It sounds.

like you're you're trying to run down. all of that to see if that's accurate. Who else may have been on that thread, what they may have known. Is that fair. to say? >> It's a lot more than that. We're running. them all down. >> It's a lot more than 20. >> Yes, sir. >> And you're running all of that, too? >> Every single one. >> Yeah. Fantastic. And let me just talk. real quick about Discord because the. Washington Post first reported that. Robinson may have messaged friends on. this platform after the shooting before. he was arrested, allegedly confessing to. the crime, right? So allegedly writing. at 7:57 p.m. local time in Utah, "Hey.

guys, I have bad news for you all. It. was me at UVU yesterday. I'm sorry for. all of this. I'm surrendering through a. sheriff friend in a few moments. Thanks. for all the good times and laughs. You've all been so amazing. Thank you. all for everything. By the way, in a. piece by journalist Ken Clippenstein. where he apparently posted messages from. that Discord chat, this is after that. alleged post from Robinson, you had. another user who allegedly wrote to the. group, "Hey everyone, if you've not seen. the news yet, Tyler's post above is.

true. He was taken into custody earlier. today for the shooting of Charlie Kirk.". Now, it's not entirely clear whether. criminal charges will arise for anybody. on this chat or there is even criminal. liability. questions about whether. anybody contributed, aided, abetted, conspired, those will hopefully be. investigated. But just making a note of. that. Now, even with the quick arrest in. this case, Patel couldn't outrun one. major controversy. That was that just. hours into this investigation, he took.

to social media to announce that a. subject was in custody. The problem, of. course, is that person wasn't the. shooter. and the announcement had to be. I don't know if the argument is walked. back but basically there was a subject. in custody they were questioned they. were released this led arguably to a lot. of confusion and senators they jumped. all over this. >> director Patel. at one point you made an announcement. that uh the suspect was in custody we. got our man it turned out that was not.

true in fact I think that was about 27. hours before the uh personnel in custody. was apprehended. Uh, why did you make that statement? >> Thank you, Senator. Appreciate you. letting me address this. Um, what the. FBI does is not just locate and find sub. suspects, but we also participate in. eliminating subjects. And what we had at. the time was a subject in custody in. relation to this investigation. So, in. my commitment to work with the public to.

help identify subjects and suspects, I. put that information out. And then when. we interviewed him, I put out the. results of that. And could I have been. more careful in my verbiage and included. an a subject instead of subject? Sure, in the heat of the moment, but I was. doing the best I could. >> In all cander, I I don't quite get that. because if we have our man, that would. suggest to the public that everybody uh. can rest and relax and not then continue. to provide information to local law. enforcement and to you. So, that was a. mistake. >> I don't see it as a mistake. I see it as.

something working with the public to. identify that there was a subject. So if. you put out if you put out a statement. that says we've got our man and in fact. it turns out that you didn't have your. man. >> That's not a mistake. >> But that's not what I said. >> Well, I'll go on. That's my. understanding. >> Okay. Now, if the Kirk assassination. dominated the first half of the hearing, the second half was consumed by an. unresolved scandal. You know what I'm. talking about. It's one that continues.

to fascinate and enrage the public. Jeffrey Epstein, which we have covered. extensively here on Sidebar. The. questions for Patel weren't about how. quickly the FBI could track down a. gunman. They were about what the FBI. knows and what it may still be holding. or hiding back about Epstein's network, his so-called black book. His longtime. associate Maxwell, Senator John Kennedy, opened with a question aimed right at. the heart of the public's curiosity. Who. else, if anyone, did Epstein traffic? I.

want to ask you about the Epstein files. Have you uh. >> have you seen the Epstein files? >> I have not reviewed the entirety of it. myself, but a good amount. >> Okay. Um. would it be fair to say. that Mr. Epstein traffked. young women, including in some instances. minors,

for sex to himself. >> That was specifically the allegations in. the 2018 indictment in the Southern. District of New York. >> Okay. Who else did he traffic these young. women to? You've seen most of the files. Uh, who, if anyone did Epstein traffic. these young women to besides himself? >> Himself? There is no credible. information. None. If there were, I.

would bring the case yesterday that he. traffked to other individuals and the. information we have again is limited. >> So the answer is no one. >> for the information that we have. >> in the files. >> in the case file. >> And one thing just to add to that, so. Gain Maxwell, she was convicted. Let's. not forget of trafficking victims to. Epstein and Epstein alone. But Kennedy. pushed Patel about transparency, about. whether the bureau would release. everything it has or whether court.

orders and legal limits would keep. pieces of this record hidden from the. public. >> And I understand that the department and. the agency have decided to release them. in cooperation with the House committee. Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. >> Uh, so you're releasing them a little. bit at a time. Is that correct? >> We're releasing as much as we can. Um, but we are limited by three different. court orders and the department went.

back to each of those judges to wave. those court orders or have them lifted. and each of those judges declined. >> Will you release all of them or at least. as many as you can? >> We will release everything. We are. legally permitted to do so. We are. continuing to work with the house on the. subpoena request. We have substantially. required with it complied with it, but. we will continue to release whatever we. are legally permitted to do so. >> Okay. I strongly encourage you to do. that. Cash, I don't this issue is not. going to go away. Um, and I think the.

the essential question for the American. people is this. They know that Epstein. traffked. young women for sex to himself. They want to know who, if anyone else, he traffked these young women to. And that's a very fair question. I want. to know that answer. and uh I I think you're going to have to.

to do more to satisfy the American. people's understandable curiosity in. that regard. >> Now, Patel answered by walking the. committee through why the files. themselves are limited. Search warrants. from the 2000s, the nonprosecution. agreement that followed, the reality. that multiple administrations had. opportunities to find leads that may. have been prosecuted. What exists in the. Epstein case files was a direct result.

of the limited search warrants from 2006. and 7 which hamstrung future. investigations because of the. nonprosecution agreement and multiple. administrations had the opportunity to. look at the entirety of that case file. and recommend prosecutions against. anyone that was trafficked under Mr. Epstein and anyone that participated in. that trafficking. and the only person to. bring charges was the prior. administration against Mr. Epstein. Now, I am not saying that others were not. trafficked and others were not involved.

What I am telling you is that based on. the information we have and we have. continuously and publicly asked for the. public to come forward with more. information. If there is, we'll look at. it. but based on credible information. We have released all credible. information and the information that the. Department of Justice and the FBI never. releases is information on. investigations that are not credible and. we don't release the names of victims. who weren't credible. But at the same. time, we don't release the names of. victims who were credible. And so the.

information that's by law and so the. information we are releasing now is. historic and it is also to the maximum. capacity that the law allows. With. Kennedy having laid out the legal frame, the what we have and what we can. release, the committee moved to the more. combustible questions. Senator Adam. Schiff took the mic and he went after. the so-called black book and whether the. FBI had in fact been holding evidence. that could implicate others. >> In 2024,

you were asked by Glenn Beck. about Epstein's Black Book. And you said. he asked who has Jeffrey Epstein's black. book and you said blackbook FBI. and he said but who that is I mean. theirs and you said oh that's under the. direct control of the director of the. FBI. That's what you said. Was that true. Mr. Patel? >> I'll rely on you quoting it accurately. I. >> was what you what you represented to Mr.

Beck and the president's supporters out. there. Or were you lying? Were you was. it true that the black book Epste's. black book was on was in the possession. of the FBI director? >> The black book was in the possession of. the FBI. >> Okay. So now that you're the FBI. director, you have possession of the. black book, right? >> That index has been released. >> So you have Jeffrey Epstein's black. book. >> What is known as Jeffrey Epstein's black. book has been released by us. And so is. it your testimony today.

that in all the Epstein files. that Jeffrey Epstein traffked no one to. anyone but himself? Is that your testifi. testimony? Mr. >> I never said Jeffrey Epste didn't. traffic anyone else. >> Did he traffic any any young woman to. someone other than himself? That was Mr. Kennedy's question. Senator question. the information that three. administrations have had access to have. made determinations that there are no. investigative leads that were credible. to prosecute and investigate any others.

I'm specifically stating whether your. testimony today. >> you just read it and I said it 10. minutes ago so let the record reflect my. testimony. Just want to make sure. there's no misunderstanding because. there are victims like Virginia Guerrero. who have testified otherwise. who have said otherwise. and you're telling the American people. today that the Epstein list is a single. name and it's Jeffrey Epstein. That's. what we're to believe. >> That's not what I'm saying. That's what.

you're saying and you can say whatever. Let me ask. >> And then the hearing pivoted to Gla. Maxwell, central to the Epstein case. She was interviewed a little while ago. by Deputy AG Todd Blanch. Remember when. she said, "If you met Epstein, there is. no way that this cast of characters, of. which it's extraordinary, and some are. in your cabinet who you value as your. co-workers and you know would be with. him if he was a creep or because they. wanted sexual favors. A man wants sexual. favors, he will find that they didn't. have to come to Epstein for that." So, she basically said the president,

President Donald Trump was not involved. in anything. She threw water on the idea. that there's a black book or a Epstein. list. But listen to this back and forth. >> Uh when Todd Blanch went to interview. Jazine Maxwell, she said, "But did I. like think these guys were coming for. that? I really don't. If you met. Epstein, there's no way that this cast. of characters of which it's. extraordinary." and some are in your. cabinet who you value as your co-workers.

and you know would be with him if he was. a creep or because they wanted sexual. favors. So let me ask you. who are those cabinet members that Jane. Maxwell Jane Maxwell was referring to. that uh. that were part of this cast of. characters. associated with Mr. Epson. Who are they? The deputy attorney general took the. aggressive step that no one else did and. interviewed Miss Maxwell for two days. and we released the entirety of that.

transcript. I do not have that. transcript in front of me. You're. picking a peace meal. Now, let me ask. you one last question, and that is. right after she gives this testimony. front of an FBI agent among others, she's transferred to a minimum security. prison, not suitable for a sex offender. like herself. Who made that decision and why? >> The Bureau of Prisons. The bureau. prisons decided on their own without any.

consultation with Blanch or anyone else. that they were going to suddenly after. this interview, completely unrelated to. this interview, completely unrelated to. anything she said, move her to a prison. not suitable for a sex offender. You. want the American people to believe. that? Do you think they're stupid? >> No. I think the American people believe. the truth that I'm not in the weeds on. the everyday movements of inmates. What. I am doing is protecting this country,

providing historic reform, and combating. the weaponization of intelligence by the. likes of you. And we have countlessly. proven you to be a liar in Russia in. January 6th. You are the biggest fraud. to ever sit in the United States Senate. You are a disgrace to this institution. and an utter coward. You are a political. buffoon at best. >> Yeah, that final eruption turned the. hearings legal arguments into just. absolute raw theater. And for listeners, viewers, it made the central truth of.

the day unmistakable that legal limits, court orders, they have seemingly. constrained what the FBI can or will. release. But those constraints and the. answers that they produce, I think it. could be argued, it could be said they. may not be satisfying to survivors, to. many members of Congress or to the. public. It's all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank. you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you.

should get your podcasts. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you next time. [Music].