Grassley Questions Patel at FBI Oversight Hearing

Grassley Questions Patel at FBI Oversight Hearing

WASHINGTON - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) questioned Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel at today's FBI oversight hearing, where he examined the FBI's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and efforts to ensure accountability for FBI personnel who commit misconduct. Grassley also pressed Patel to explain what the Bureau is doing to increase transparency following the FBI's political weaponization and mishandling of government records under former Director Christopher Wray.

Grassley in his opening statement noted, "in the short amount of time [Patel has] been Director, [he's] corrected whistleblower retaliation and increased transparency more than any other FBI Director I've seen." Grassley also made public records showing the Biden FBI targeted 92 Republican organizations and individuals as part of its Arctic Frost investigation.

Video and a transcript of Grassley and Patel's exchange follow.

VIDEO

Epstein Investigation

GRASSLEY: Since 2019, I've sought greater transparency about Jeffrey Epstein and the government's handling of the matter. I've continued to investigate during this Congress.

Director Patel, was Jeffrey Epstein an intelligence asset for the U.S. Government or a foreign government? If so, which agencies and governments?

PATEL: Mr. Chairman, I can only speak to the FBI, as the Director of the FBI, and Mr. Epstein was not a source for the FBI.

GRASSLEY: Would you commit to providing my office with all classified and unclassified records relating to the Epstein matter?

PATEL: I will commit to providing all records I am legally permitted to do so under the court orders.

GRASSLEY: I accept your answer to my question, but the broader Intelligence Community ought to answer these questions as well - the victims deserve an answer.

FBI 1023s on Biden family foreign interests

GRASSLEY: Regarding the initial FBI 1023 document that I made public last Congress, that document mentioned: (1) text messages, (2) audio recordings and (3) financial records that allegedly proved a bribery scheme with the Biden family and foreign interests.

Regarding those records, did the Wray FBI make any effort to determine whether they existed? Did the Wray FBI make any effort to obtain those records?

PATEL: Not to my knowledge, Mr. Chairman.

GRASSLEY: Since this matter hasn't been investigated, the FBI has an obligation to the public to do exactly that and figure out why it wasn't investigated.

Sexual misconduct among FBI personnel

GRASSLEY: I've done a lot of oversight relating to sexual misconduct by FBI agents... According to the FBI Inspection Division, it opened nearly 300 investigations based on sexual misconduct referrals between 2017-2024. According to whistleblowers, the Biden-Wray FBI totally dropped the ball on this question.

One credible accusation of sexual misconduct is too many, of course. Are you committed to reviewing the Bureau's policies to ensure responses to credible allegations of misconduct are swift and adequately protect victims?

PATEL: Yes, Mr. Chairman.

GRASSLEY: Relating to a similar subject, during child crimes and sexual misconduct-related investigations, are any private sector companies less than cooperative with you? What improvements in information sharing need to be made to catch those criminals?

PATEL: Mr. Chairman, we can always do better with our private sector companies. I've reached out to the leaders of most of them asking them to provide more material so that we can be responsive and take legal action and protect the youth of this country. I'm happy to discuss possible legislation that we can do to allow for these companies to continue.

Vetting of Afghan evacuees

GRASSLEY: Director Patel, since 2021, I've raised concerns about the Biden administration's failure to properly vet Afghan evacuees. Director Gabbard informed my office that as of August 2022, approximately 1,600 evacuees located in the United States had ties to terrorism or other derogatory information. That's why I, and many others, have opposed bills giving blanket approval.

Are you aware of what steps your predecessor took to investigate these evacuees? What steps have you taken to investigate them and what, if any, national security concerns still exist?

PATEL: Mr. Chairman, I can't speak to the steps my predecessor took, but I will make sure we do a sweeping review and get back to you on that… During my tenure, we are going through the databases to make sure that no known or suspected terrorists enter this country to harm our nation… One of the first acts we undertook was a manhunt of one of the Abbey Gate bombers and leaders in the crime spree that killed 13 brave Americans. And within two weeks, we caught one of the leaders of the Abbey Gate bombing and brought him to justice here from Pakistan.

Biden-Harris mismanagement of the Unaccompanied Alien Children program

GRASSLEY: Through my and other investigations, we found that the Biden administration lost thousands of undocumented children. We never heard a peep from [Democrat] senators wanting to help find them even after I invited them to do so.

In September 2025, the Trump Health and Human Services announced the creation of an Interagency Crime Coordination Cell to find these and other missing children. That interagency group reportedly includes your agency.

What resources and personnel have the FBI assigned to this new interagency effort? What steps has the FBI taken to assist in locating missing children that the incompetent Biden administration lost?

PATEL: Protecting our youth is maybe the top priority for the FBI. Specifically, as it relates to your question, Mr. Chairman… we've surged resources not just to this cell, but across the nation to our FBI Field Offices to locate children who have been trafficked, who have been victims of sexual abuse. And we have located 4,700 children in the seven months since I've been FBI Director. And that is a 35 percent increase from the same time period last year. And we're not stopping, and we're committed to doing that work - on our tribal lands as well. And we are finding victims of child trafficking and child abuse - every county and every district - and we're not going to stop.

Arctic Frost investigation

GRASSLEY: As I mentioned during my opening, I'm releasing documents with Senator Johnson about Arctic Frost.

Specifically, the documents show its scope expanded to include 92 Republican organizations. From evidence that I've seen, it looks to me like another political hit job against Republicans.

What steps has the FBI taken to make sure improperly predicated investigations and weaponization like this don't happen again?

PATEL: The simple answer, Mr. Chairman, is the FBI will only bring cases that are based in fact and law, and have a legal basis to do so. And anyone that does otherwise will not be employed at FBI. We are doing a prospective and retrospective analysis of individuals who may have weaponized the Department [of Justice] and the [FBI]. And as I've committed to you during my confirmation hearing and my conversations with you, this FBI will not be weaponized anymore - on either side of the aisle.

FBI documents placed under "Prohibited" and "Restricted" access:

GRASSLEY: In June of this year, I raised concerns about the FBI's use of "restricted access" and "prohibited access" systems.

According to the FBI, "when search terms that exist in the Prohibited Access-status cases are searched in Sentinel, the particular search will receive a false-negative Sentinel search response."

Clearly, this not only affects FBI agents. It impacts congressional requests and court cases. And the Biden administration used it to thwart oversight.

How are you ensuring that "restricted access" and "prohibited access" files are produced to Congress and during court cases? Have you identified any Biden family records in "restricted" or "prohibited" status?

PATEL: As I've committed to you with my transparency initiative, whether it's "restricted" or "prohibited," every single thing we can legally provide to Congress, we will. We've also restructured how these "restricted" and "prohibited" cases are labeled and provided access to more people in the chain of command, so that more people have knowledge of what these "restricted" and "prohibited" cases are, including myself and the Deputy [Director].

GRASSLEY: Do you commit to providing any records that are available?

PATEL: I do, sir.

Mishandling of government records by the Wray FBI

GRASSLEY: You've publicly said that your team "found a room that Comey and others hid from the world in the Hoover Building, full of documents and computer hard drives no one had ever seen or heard of."

I've received a whistleblower disclosure that the room contained some information kept outside the FBI recordkeeping [systems]. I've also been informed via a whistleblower disclosure that the room included materials relating to Special Counsel Mueller, former Director James Comey and other documents maintained outside of the FBI.

Has the FBI now reviewed and analyzed those records? Has the FBI properly recorded the documents?

These records are clearly responsive to my - as well as my colleagues' - congressional requests. What steps have you taken to ensure all responsive records are produced to Congress?

PATEL: What's supposed to happen is leadership at the FBI is supposed to - pursuant to the [Federal Records Act] - correctly store these records… In this room, we found a plethora of hard drives, computers, hard documents, soft documents that were not so recorded. A voluminous amount of information. So, we are continuously processing that information... [W]e subscribe to the Records Act and commit that those records will be kept permanently at the FBI. We are reviewing those materials. A lot of those materials are related to ongoing investigations. And…we are, on a rolling basis, providing Congress the documents that we can. And we will continue to do so.

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