FBI Director Kash Patel looked visibly rattled during a tense House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, dodging repeated questions about whether Donald Trump’s name appears in the infamous Jeffrey Epstein files — and at one point bizarrely broke into reciting the alphabet to avoid answering.
The hearing, already charged following Patel’s explosive testimony in the Senate the day before, took a surreal turn when Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) cornered Patel on whether he informed Attorney General Pam Bondi that Trump was named in the Epstein documents currently held by the Justice Department.
“Did you ever tell the attorney general that Donald Trump’s name is in the Epstein files?” Swalwell asked.
Patel danced around the question, saying only, “The attorney general and I have had numerous discussions about the entirety of the Epstein files and the reviews conducted by our teams.”
Swalwell, not satisfied with the non-answer, pressed again.
“It’s a simple question. Did you tell the attorney general that the president’s name is in the Epstein files?”
Patel dodged again. That’s when Swalwell turned up the heat — accusing Patel of mocking the process.
“The question is simple,” Swalwell snapped. “Why don’t you try spelling it out if you’re going to mock?”
Patel responded with, “Use the alphabet! No? A, B, C, D, E, F… don’t want to do it?”
This wasn’t a momentary lapse. Patel was asked the same question at least ten times. Each time, he ducked, deflected, or derailed. Finally, he claimed, “The question has been asked and answered.”
Swalwell wasn’t buying it: “You have not answered it, and we will take your evasiveness as a consciousness of guilt.”
That exchange would’ve been bad enough. But then came Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), who drilled into Patel over the FBI’s investigation — or apparent lack thereof — into the trove of disturbing material seized from Epstein’s properties.
Lieu started with a blunt question about whether Patel had reviewed all of the images found in Epstein’s possession. Patel sidestepped: “I don’t have the catalogue of evidence in front of me, sir.”
Lieu followed up by citing a New York Times report about the discovery of a safe full of lewd images, and then played a clip of author Michael Wolff claiming Epstein had shown him photos of “Donald Trump with girls of an uncertain age at Epstein’s Palm Beach house.”
“Are there photos showing Donald Trump with girls of an uncertain age?” Lieu asked.
Patel’s answer was flat: “No.”
Lieu wasn’t letting that slide. “How do you know that?”
Patel answered, “Because the information would’ve been brought to light by multiple administrations.”
Lieu fired back, pointing out that Patel’s claim was “just not true,” referencing a previously unknown birthday message Trump wrote to Epstein that only came to light thanks to Wall Street Journal reporting — not any FBI disclosure.
At one point, Patel admitted it was “a good point” when Lieu suggested the Epstein estate might still have evidence the FBI hasn’t seen. But when Lieu pressed on why the FBI wasn’t going after that information, Patel threw up his hands: “I can’t.”
“You’re the freaking FBI! You can subpoena information from the estate,” Lieu exclaimed.
But according to Patel, the estate doesn’t have to hand anything over — even if subpoenaed.
The exchange ended with Lieu pressing Patel on whether Prince Andrew was named in the Epstein client list. Patel dodged again, saying it was “publicly available information,” without confirming or denying.
None of this is sitting well with Democrats on the committee — or the public.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) revealed in July that an FBI whistleblower claimed agents were “working 24 hours a day” combing through Epstein documents, specifically searching for references to Trump.
So far, the public hasn’t seen much from that effort — and based on Patel’s performance Wednesday, transparency isn’t coming anytime soon.
What we did see was an FBI director cracking under pressure, turning to the alphabet to avoid a yes-or-no question, and doing little to instill public confidence in how the agency is handling one of the most disturbing investigations in modern history.
Watch some of the exchanges in the clips below:
FBI Director Kash Patel reciting his ABCs to avoid question on Trump-Epstein connection pic.twitter.com/hsor22S2zh
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) September 17, 2025
