Congress

Kash Patel doubles down on his handling of the Epstein files in heated Hill testimony

Published

1 year ago

September 17, 2025

Kash Patel’s Epstein files problem is not going away.

Over two days of hearings, Democrats hammered the FBI director — who once advocated for the wholesale release of the files connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — over the bureau’s reluctance to release the full trove.

They also accused Patel of seeking to protect President Donald Trump from potentially embarrassing references in the files, of giving short-shrift to Epstein’s victims and of refusing to follow all investigative leads.

“Now we’re seeing one very clear reason why you want to build a political FBI: the Epstein files,” House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Wednesday. “You want an FBI blindly loyal to Trump and to you as his enforcer so you can continue your cover-up of a massive international sex trafficking ring with more than 1,000 victims, betraying all of the survivors of the sexual violence.”

Raskin’s comments came on the second of Patel’s two-day tour of Capitol Hill, which started Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee before heading over to the House’s counterpart panel. In both venues, Patel advocated for the agency’s priorities.

But his 10 total hours of testimony were also marked by intense and hostile exchanges with Democrats, often related to the Epstein investigation. And his appearance Wednesday was interrupted by Democrats moving to subpoena four major banks in an effort to obtain Epstein’s financial records — a motion that failed by a single vote.

Over the two days, Patel openly feuded with Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Adam Schiff, as well as Rep. Eric Swalwell; he appeared to relish the verbal sparring, which the White House’s rapid response feed quickly amplified. In one heated exchange with Swalwell, Patel said he would not recuse himself from any investigations into 60 people he once labeled “government gangsters” — including Swalwell.

“I don’t give a damn what they say about me,” Patel said when Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) asked him to respond to a Democratic fusillade.

On Epstein, Patel insisted the FBI is releasing as many files as possible but is hamstrung by court orders and a nearly 20-year-old deal struck between the Justice Department and Epstein that have impeded crucial avenues of investigation. He repeatedly noted that the Trump administration had released more Epstein-related files than its predecessors.

“I’m not going to break the law to satisfy your curiosity,” Patel told Democrats, who in turn countered that the FBI director is misrepresenting his own power to publicly produce new materials judges have said is in the purview of the FBI and Justice Department.

Patel heard from Republicans on the Epstein issue, too. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joined Democrats in pressing Patel to release witness interview summaries during the House Judiciary hearing Wednesday. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Tuesday the FBI needs to move to release Epstein-related records.

“The issue’s not gonna go away,” Kennedy said. “I think you’re gonna have to do more to satisfy the American people’s understandable curiosity in that regard.”

House Democrats proved that point Wednesday, when they forced votes on issuing subpoenas for four banks that did business with Epstein and subsequently told regulators about $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions, as well as for the purposes of obtaining testimony from FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and records from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only Republican to support Democrats in their attempts, which were squelched by Republicans. But failure Wednesday was not a foregone conclusion: In a House Oversight subcommittee in July, some Republicans helped push through Democratic subpoena efforts related to the Epstein files, which has resulted in the release of materials in the Justice Department’s possession.

Massie is also not giving up on a separate attempt to force a House floor vote on the more comprehensive release of the Epstein files, and only needs one more signatory to proceed.

The issue has put all of Trump’s allies in an uncomfortable position, caught between their promises of transparency and realities of operating the country’s sprawling law enforcement agencies. Patel is no exception.

“Is it your assertion that these victims aren’t credible?” Massie asked Patel Wednesday. “How can you sit here and in front of the Senate and say there are no names?”

Democrats also pressed Patel over and over again to explain his own personal reversal on the issue, as well as the bureau’s ongoing efforts to both disclose Epstein-related documents and continue to investigate his sex trafficking ring.

Pressed by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-N.Y.), Patel said he would consider opening an investigation into the Epstein estate over Trump’s claim that a suggestive letter in Epstein’s 50th-birthday book was forged.

“Sure, I’ll do it,” Patel said.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

24 minutes ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

37 minutes ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.

Congress

Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras

Published

6 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday released text of legislation intended to ban the use of Flock surveillance cameras and other license plate readers.

Flock has faced severe public backlash against the surveillance technology following reports that police officers misused the technology to track women, and it has the largest network of license plate readers across the U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hosted a hearing last month probing its potential misuses, although the company’s CEO Garrett Langley did not appear.

The latest bill, unveiled Friday and named the Ban Flock Act, would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers or accessing data from the technology and prevent federal grants from funding states and local governments that use automated license plate readers.

“At a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent,” Sanders, who has positioned himself as a leading progressive voice on AI technology, said in a statement. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

Ocasio-Cortez similarly condemned the surveillance capabilities of the technology and said the bill would “enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance.”

“No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips,” Merkley added.

Republicans have introduced similar efforts to regulate license plate readers, such as Hawley’s Stop Flock Abuse Act, which would require audits and limits on unauthorized searches.

Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.