Name: Kash Patel Vows to Probe Epstein, Sex Trafficking as FBI Chief
Uploaded: 2025-02-02T02:34:15.000Z
Description: Three of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees appeared before Senate committees today. Tulsi Gabbard, nominated for Director of National Intelligence, and Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, made their first appearances before the Senate.

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Three of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees appeared before Senate committees today. Tulsi Gabbard, nominated for Director of National Intelligence, and Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, made their first appearances before the Senate.

Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., tapped to head the Department of Health and Human Services, testified before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, following questioning by the Finance Committee yesterday.

Follow here for the latest updates:
<h2>Patel Pressed on Whether Biden Won in 2020</h2>
Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) repeatedly pressed Kash Patel to say that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, echoing other senators’ questions to him and Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, during her confirmation hearing.

“As I've said before, that President Biden was certified and sworn in, and he was the president,” Patel told Welch at one point.

Welch responded in part by stating that “the other way to say it is he won.”

Later in their exchange, Welch asked Patel whether he could explicitly say that Biden won the election. Patel again responded that Biden was the president of the United States, which Welch said was different than saying Biden actually won.

When Welch asked whether the election was stolen, Patel said, “Millions of Americans expressed concern going back to multiple elections over election integrity.”
<h2>Patel Commits to Investigating Epstein, Sex Trafficking</h2>
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) asked Kash Patel whether he would work with her to investigate who worked to build sex trafficking rings with now-deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child sex abuser charged in 2019 with child sex trafficking.

“Absolutely, senator,” Patel responded. “Child sex trafficking has no place in the United States of America, and I will do everything if confirmed as FBI director to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in the past.”
<h2>Booker Presses Patel on Trump Classified Documents Testimony</h2>
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) pressed Kash Patel for information on what he told the grand jury during testimony in the Florida classified documents case involving President Donald Trump.

Patel said he wanted his testimony to be released and had requested Booker to do so, before which he would not discuss the details of his recollections of his testimony.

Booker disagreed and said the law didn’t bind witnesses like himself to secrecy.

On Wednesday, Senate Democrats sent a letter to the Department of Justice, asking the agency to release the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report that pertained to Patel.
<h2>Kennedy Accuses Sanders, Other Senators of Protecting Big Pharma</h2>
​​Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), describing the national health care system as “broken,” asked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he would “do what every other major country on earth does” and support universal health care.

Kennedy replied that he intends to “make America healthier than other countries in the world.”

He went on to suggest that Sanders and other members of the committee were allowing their financial interests to influence their positions on public health policy.

“You know, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies. It’s in Congress too,” Kennedy said. “Almost all the members of this panel are accepting—including yourself—are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry, protecting their interests.”

Sanders interjected to assert that he received “millions of contributions” to his 2020 presidential campaign, but “not one nickel” came from pharmaceutical company executives. “They came from workers,” he said.

Kennedy fired back, saying that the senator was the single largest recipient of pharmaceutical money in 2020.

Sanders reiterated that the donations came from workers, not companies.
<h2>Democrats Ask Patel About Controversial Statements</h2>
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee leveled multiple questions for Kash Patel about his previous statements, including his promotion of supplements portrayed as helping people detox from the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Spike the Vax, order this homerun kit to rid your body of the harms of the vax,” he wrote in a Feb. 27 post to Truth Social.

In another, he wrote, “Mrna detox, reverse the vaxx n get healthy with @warrioressentials.”

When Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) asked whether Patel made money from promoting the supplements, Patel responded with another question.

“Senator, do you know of any individuals who died as a result of complications from the vaccine? Because I do,” he said.

In an exchange with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Patel suggested his promotion of the supplement was a way of offering people an opportunity to do something good for their families.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Klobuchar also pressed Patel on a statement he made about shutting down the FBI headquarters. During an interview on the “Shawn Ryan Show” in September 2024, Patel said he wanted to shut down the FBI Hoover Building and reopen it “as a museum of the deep state.”

In an exchange with Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Patel said that he was trying to “highlight” a “significantly greater point” about the number of FBI employees who work in Washington. He went on to say that he was committed to having the workforce in Washington “go out into the interior of the country … and work with sheriff's departments and local officers.”

Coons responded: “If that had been your statement, that would be something that would be defensible. It's the rest of it, saying you're going to turn it into a museum of the deep state that causes repeated questions and concerns from people like myself.”
<h2>Sen. Alsobrooks Challenges Kennedy’s Staffing Plans</h2>
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) questioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plans for staffing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the Department of Health and Human Services if confirmed as secretary.

Alsobrooks said Kennedy previously told her that he intends to rid the NIH of “the bad scientists” and replace them with “the good scientists.”

“I want to ask you, in your opinion, what makes a scientist or a doctor qualified to serve at the National Institutes of Health?” the senator asked.

Kennedy said that in his view, that category would include “a scientist who’s devoted to empirical methodology, to evidence-based science; scientists who understand the importance of replication, [the] importance of publishing raw data and being open, transparent about it, the importance of publishing peer review.”

He then asked Alsobrooks if she felt none of the professionals at NIH should be held responsible for overseeing “the precipitous decline in American health” in recent years.

“I don’t set the rules here, but I ask the questions,” Alsobrooks replied.

The senator went on to ask him how he would decide which scientists were bad. “Are they the ones who disagree with you?” she asked.

“The ones who are corrupt,” Kennedy said, referring to a recent media article on fraud in Alzheimer’s research.
<h2>Gabbard: US Relationship With China is ‘Complex’</h2>
The U.S. relationship with China is “complex,” said former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence.

When it comes to China-owned social media platform TikTok, Gabbard said, “I would just reiterate some of my concerns that I stated in the past about how this really is an issue about data privacy because so much of what is collected by all of these, even us understood, but I'm just concerned about any country, and that is a bigger issue for Congress to wrestle and I am all in for that conversation.”

By law, TikTok was banned on Jan. 19 but Trump signed an executive order upon taking office to allow for 75 days for an American entity to acquire the Chinese Communist Party-controlled app.
<h2>RFK Jr.: ‘Something is Poisoning’ American Kids</h2>
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the nation’s increasing childhood obesity rate cannot solely be attributed to the American diet.

“American kids did not suddenly get gluttonous and lazy. Something is poisoning them, and we need to figure that out, and then we need to end those exposures,” Kennedy told Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).

Banks had noted that 70 percent of American youth are ineligible to serve in the U.S. military, partly due to their weight.
<div>

Kennedy said the nation now has a unique opportunity to address that problem under the Trump administration.

“And we know what we have to do,” he said. “We have to study the additives.

“We have to end the conflicts of interest on the nutrition panels and on the drug panels that are loaded with people who have … corrupt entanglements with the industries they’re supposed to regulate that have turned these agencies into sock puppets for the industries they’re supposed to regulate.”

Kennedy added that the new administration is attracting top talent to achieve those goals, “not because they want the position, but because they actually want to change things and give us gold-standard science and make America healthy.”

He cautioned, however, against treating new “miracle” GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy as the first line of intervention for childhood obesity.

“They have all kinds of bad side effects,” he said, noting that they can “eat away” at muscle mass.

</div>
<h2>Patel Commits to Investigating FBI Memo on Catholics</h2>
Kash Patel told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that he would officially withdraw and declare unconstitutional a controversial FBI <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:1e0353dd-759a-4e3e-8f7b-ebd2a7560888?viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover">memo</a> about purported connections between extremists and Traditionalist Catholics. He also committed to investigating the issue.

The memo was retracted in 2023.
<h2>Patel Backs Off Comments About Prosecuting Former FBI Director Wray</h2>
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) asked Kash Patel about past statements he has made that former FBI Director Christopher Wray has broken the law and should be prosecuted, and whether Patel would follow through with those comments if confirmed as FBI director.

“I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards,” Patel replied. “There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI, should I be confirmed as the FBI director.”
<h2>Kennedy Vows to Reverse Biden-Era Health Policies</h2>
Kennedy promised Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that he would reverse several public health policies implemented under the Biden administration if confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary.

Kennedy vowed to rescind a policy that requires health providers to offer gender transition treatments to transgender children.

He also said he would follow President Donald Trump’s policy on the abortion drug mifepristone. On Wednesday, Kennedy said that Trump had asked him to study the drug’s safety upon confirmation.

The nominee also promised to bar Title X funding for programs that provide or promote abortion. Under the Biden administration, such funding—meant for family planning programs—was denied to states that refused to refer patients for abortions.
<h2>Gabbard Recalls Meeting with Assad</h2>
Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, said that her 2017 meeting with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad consisted of her asking “tough questions,” such as using chemical weapons against his own people.

She said that she did not get any concessions from him.
<h2>Gabbard Proposes Reforms to Intelligence Gathering</h2>
Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, said there should be reforms in the intelligence community.

One of the reforms includes requiring warrants for surveillance, including for Americans. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows for the intelligence community to collect information on non-American citizens abroad. Gabbard acknowledged that it is up to Congress to pass these reforms.

Gabbard said she would also seek reform for security clearances “to limit access to our nation’s secrets.”
<h2>Patel, Graham Condemn Crossfire Hurricane</h2>
Kash Patel denied having an enemies list after multiple senators have alluded—both in his confirmation hearing and in another—to a list of “deep state” actors in an appendix to his book “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked Patel about the inclusion of former Attorney General William Barr on that list, noting that it has been referred to as an “enemies list.” Patel responded in part by calling that label, which he said was crafted by legacy media, a “total mischaracterization.”

Members of the committee similarly suggested Patel had an enemies list during a confirmation hearing for former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice. Bondi told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) earlier this month, “There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice.”
<h2>Republican Senators Spar Over CDC’s Vaccine Schedule at RFK Jr. Hearing</h2>
Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) engaged in a back-and-forth over the practicality of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine schedule for children.

Paul, coming to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s defense, said vaccinations should not be treated as “one size fits all.”

“The reason you have distrust from people at home, why they don’t believe anything you say, they don’t believe government at all, is you’re telling my kid to take a hepatitis B vaccine when he’s one day old,” Paul, an ophthalmologist, said in response to comments Cassidy had made.

Paul noted that hepatitis B is contracted through drug use and sexual activity, “but you're telling me my kid has to take it at one day old. That’s not science.”

Cassidy, however, said that a mother’s hepatitis B status is not always known at the time of her child’s birth.

“A vaccine on day one of life prevents chronic hepatitis B 95 percent of the time,” he said. “So, it really depends upon ... the knowledge of the mother’s hepatitis B status.”
<h2>Gabbard: Snowden ‘Broke the Law’</h2>
Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said that former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden “broke the law” by leaking classified information.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) noted Gabbard’s past comments in support of Snowden, in which she called him “brave” and said the charges against Snowden should be dropped.

“I cannot imagine a director of national intelligence that would say that kind of behavior is okay,” Warner said.
<h2>Sanders Calls Kennedy’s Vaccine Responses ‘Troubling’</h2>
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asserted that “dozens of studies done all over the world” have confirmed that vaccines do not cause autism and asked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he agreed.

Kennedy, reiterating a response he gave to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), said he would accept that as true if shown those studies.

“That is a very troubling response because the studies are there,” Sanders replied. “Your job was to have looked at those studies as an applicant for this job.”

The senator then pressed Kennedy on why he filed a lawsuit seeking the revocation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emergency authorization for the COVID-19 vaccines.

“Senator, I filed that lawsuit after the CDC recommended the vaccine for 6-year-old children, without any evidence that it would benefit them and without testing on 6-year-old children,” Kennedy said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Was the vaccine—COVID vaccine—successful in saving millions of lives? I don’t know. We don’t have a good surveillance system,” Kennedy said.

Sanders said it was “really problematic” that Kennedy was casting doubt on whether the COVID-19 vaccines saved lives.
<h2>Patel Disagrees With Commutations for Violent Jan. 6 Defendants</h2>
Asked if he felt President Donald Trump was wrong to give blanket pardons for Jan. 6 defendants, including those convicted of violent offenses against law enforcement officers, Kash Patel said he has always rejected any violence against law enforcement.

“I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” Patel said.

Patel, Trump’s nominee for FBI director, went on to condemn President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents. Biden’s commutation will allow Peltier to serve out his life sentence in home confinement rather than prison without absolving him of the underlying conviction.
<h2>Gabbard Responds to Critics in Opening Statement</h2>
Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard made the case for why she should be the next director of national intelligence.

“I'll begin by leading, by example, checking my own personal views at the door, and committing to delivering intelligence that is collected, analyzed, and reported without bias, prejudice, or political influence,” she said.

Gabbard called out to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who appeared to be on the fence over the nomination, noting that the senator voted in favor of creating the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Gabbard said that, if confirmed, she would “end the politicization of the intelligence community.” She cited examples such as the letter by former intelligence officials that the story about the laptop of Hunter Biden, former President Joe Biden’s son, was Russian disinformation.

Gabbard also addressed criticisms of her.

“You may hear lies and smears that challenge my loyalty to and love for our country,” she said.

“Those who oppose my nomination imply that I am loyal to something or someone other than God, my own conscience, and the Constitution of the United States, accusing me of being Trump's puppet, Putin's puppet, Assad's puppet, a guru's puppet, Modi's puppet; not recognizing the absurdity of simultaneously being the puppet of five different puppet masters,” she continued, referring to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
<h2>Sen. Ernst Defends Gabbard</h2>
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, making the case for why she should be the next director of national intelligence.

Ernst described Gabbard’s life as “Duty, honor, service.”

The senator emphasized Gabbard’s military service as a reason for her to be confirmed as the head of the intelligence community.

“Tulsi exemplifies what it means to rise above partisanship, putting the needs of the American people over political divisions,” Ernst said.

“She put her own life on the line in combat operations, and now has set aside partisan differences as a former Democrat member of Congress to answer the call to serve in a Republican administration.”
<h2>Kennedy: ‘I’m Pro-Safety,’ Not Anti-Vaccine</h2>
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded to Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) concerns about his vaccine stance by noting that he is not anti-vaccine but “pro-safety” and “pro-good science.”

“I worked for 40 years to raise awareness about mercury and other toxins in fish, and nobody called me anti-fish,” Kennedy noted.

“All my kids are vaccinated. I believe vaccines have saved millions of lives and play a critical role in health care.”

The nominee added that he is not against the food industry, either, but wants to work with food producers to remove some of the regulatory red tape that stifles “American ingenuity.”

“My advocacy has often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions, and I’m not going to apologize for that,” Kennedy said.

“We have massive health problems in our country that we must face honestly, and the first thing I’ve done every morning for the past 20 years is to pray to God that he would put me in a position where I can end the chronic disease epidemic and protect our children,” he said.

"That’s why I’m so grateful to President Trump [for] the opportunity to sit here before you today and seek your support and your partnership in this endeavor.”
<h2>Cassidy Questions Kennedy’s Vaccine Views</h2>
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) started Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s second confirmation hearing by challenging his previous comments about vaccines.

“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” said Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee.

“Can I trust that that is now in the past? Can data and information change your opinion, or will you only look for data supporting a predetermined conclusion? This is imperative.”

Cassidy, a physician, said he has constituents who credit Kennedy’s statements questioning the safety of vaccines as the reason they decided not to vaccinate their children.

“I think you’ll tell us today, as you did in Finance Committee yesterday, that you’re pro-vaccine. So what will you tell the American mother? Will you tell her to vaccinate her child or to not?”
<h2>Cotton, Warner Give Opening Statements at Gabbard Hearing</h2>
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) expressed support for former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence.

Cotton said that Gabbard would be a fresh voice to go against “conventional” thinking that has included getting the United States involved in Egypt and Libya, overthrowing authoritarian leaders there.

Meanwhile, the committee’s vice chair, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), told Gabbard that he has “significant concerns” about her judgment and qualifications “to meet the standard set by law.”
<h2>Kash Patel Offers Opening Remarks</h2>
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, offered opening remarks at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee after praise from Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and criticism from ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who said Patel wasn't qualified.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced Patel, stating that he possessed significant expertise and was an “outstanding choice to lead the FBI.”

After Tillis’s statement, Patel was sworn in. He started by offering prayers for the victims of the plane crash at Reagan National Airport. Patel’s parents and sister were present behind him.

“Protecting the rights of the Constitution is of the utmost importance to me,” he said.

Patel pledged to remain focused on the FBI’s core mission and recounted his national security experience in both President Barack Obama’s administration and that of Trump during his first term.

Patel used his opening statement to call attention to low trust in the FBI. He proposed to focus on tackling violent crime as well as allowing congressional oversight as ways to restore trust.
<h2>RFK Jr. Faces Second Day of Questioning</h2>
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. returns to Capitol Hill on Thursday for a second day of questioning as he seeks confirmation to the role of Health and Human Services secretary.

Kennedy will testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee starting at 10 a.m. ET.

The committee’s chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), will be a key vote to securing Kennedy’s confirmation. Cassidy, a gastroenterologist, grilled the former presidential candidate at his hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday about his proposals for reforming Medicare and Medicaid. Kennedy did not have any specifics to share.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are two other Republicans who could swing either way.

Republicans currently hold a 53–47 vote majority in the Senate. Vice President JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote leaves room for just three GOP defections if Kennedy is to be confirmed without any Democrat support.

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Melina Wisecup is NTD's congressional correspondent based in Washington, covering Capitol Hill and campaign politics.

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