By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -FBI Director Kash Patel will face a U.S. House of Representatives panel on Wednesday for a second day of questioning by lawmakers, who are expected to focus on his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Patel broadly defended his seven-month tenure as head of the FBI and his handling of the Epstein probe during a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, pushing back against Democrats who criticized his leadership of the most prominent U.S. law enforcement agency.
Now it’s the House’s turn with a hearing before the Judiciary Committee, which includes Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a harsh critic of the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein probe and co-author of legislation to require more disclosures about it.
Patel and other top Department of Justice officials have faced criticism over the department’s decision in July to end its review of investigative files related to Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The department also enraged many prominent supporters of President Donald Trump with its decision not to release additional documents from the investigation, after raising expectations for a full disclosure. Many in Trump’s political base believed his administration would implicate other wealthy and powerful people in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking of underage girls.
Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that the FBI had no information to support such claims, but said the FBI had limited evidence in its possession because a federal investigation into Epstein two decades ago was overly narrow in scope.
The issue has sparked a rare rift between Trump and his Make America Great Again movement. Trump, a one-time friend of Epstein, has urged his supporters to move on and dismissed the issue as a hoax pushed by his Democratic opponents.
Patel had boosted claims about Epstein during appearances on conservative podcasts before Trump nominated him to lead the FBI.
The Justice Department has begun handing records over to the House Oversight Committee, which has subpoenaed material related to Epstein.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Edmund Klamann)
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