FBI Director Kash Patel has publicly dismissed speculation he is set to walk out amid conspiracies surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Patel spoke out to address a rumored rift inside the Trump administration over the Justice Department’s handling of the long-awaited Epstein files.
‘The conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been,’ Patel posted on X. ‘It’s an honor to serve the President of the United States @realDonaldTrump — and I’ll continue to do so for as long as he calls on me.’
Patel’s remarks follow reports of a heated internal dispute involving FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The clash reportedly stemmed from an unsigned memo released on Sunday with DOJ and FBI seals, that concluded Epstein did not get murdered in prison and that none of the available evidence included a so-called ‘client list’.
The Attorney General has defended the memo, citing court orders and the protection of victims’ identities as legal barriers to further disclosure.
Bongino, however, gave an ultimatum over the Justice Department’s handling of the sensitive files, the Daily Mail can reveal, claiming he ‘is considering resigning’ if Bondi does not step down.
Bongino reportedly ‘took the day off’ from work on Friday, Axios reported, and a source close to Bongino said ‘he ain’t coming back’.
Despite affirmation from the Attorney General, backlash to the memo has been particularly fierce among those who anticipated major revelations tied to Epstein’s network.
Critics have also accused Patel and Bongino of retreating from earlier pledges for full transparency.
Maryland Democratic Representative Jeremy Raskin announced plans to urge House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan to subpoena Bondi, Patel and Bongino for questioning on the Epstien files, The Independent reported.
‘I’m gonna be asking Chairman Jordan to call for a hearing where we subpoena the attorney general and Dan Bongino and Kash Patel to come in and tell us everything that we know because this thing is really spinning out of control at this point,’ Raskin said.
‘And there’s one way to put it to rest, which is to come clean, as President Trump promised he would during the campaign.’
Despite mounting pressure, Patel’s statement signals his intention to remain in his post and continue supporting former Trump’s second-term agenda.
A White House spokesperson called the resignation rumors ‘baseless’.
‘President Trump has assembled a highly qualified and experienced law and order team dedicated to protecting Americans, holding criminals accountable, and delivering justice to victims,’ Spokesperson Harrison Fields told The Independent Saturday.
‘This work is being carried out seamlessly and with unity. Any attempt to sow division within this team is baseless and distracts from the real progress being made in restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all.’
Bongino, before taking his official post at the FBI, touted conspiracy theories that Epstein was murdered in prison and didn’t kill himself like the official medical report concluded.
‘Dan, who didn’t need to be there and simply wanted to serve the President, now finds himself in a precarious position with everything to lose,’ the insider told the Daily Mail.
‘This completely botched release was an attempted forced compliance where the DOJ has all the power.’
The person familiar with the Epstein review said that the DOJ is the body with the ability to decide what gets released – including reviewing any information that comes from the FBI before it goes to the public.
They claim that Bondi’s DOJ might also be ‘stalling’ other investigations like the one probing the origins of COVID-19 and Chinese election interference.
Those close to Bongino and Patel have also expressed frustration at the bureaucratic process.
On Wednesday, Bongino and Bondi got into a heated argument over the ‘missing minutes’ of footage from the nearly 11 hours of surveillance video released over the weekend of the prison the night Epstein died, Axios reported.
The administration said the video proves that Epstein was not murdered.
Authorities claim that every day at midnight the video resets and starts a new recording, which leaves one minute blank for processing time.
But the jump left conspiracy theorists even more wary of the footage, but already was questioned over why there wasn’t a clear view of Epstein’s cell door.
Other critics also pointed to the fact that a large railing hid the man’s face that authorities claimed was the convicted child sex offender going to his cell the night he died.
Ultimately, Trump and Bondi appear ready to move on from the Epstein files. But the American public doesn’t appear too pleased to take the answers they have provided at face-value.
Bongino appears to agree with a growing chorus of right-wing voices calling for answers and demanding Bondi step down over her handling of the Epstein files.
The AG is now facing accusations that she lied, with the online MAGAverse claiming she told Fox News earlier this year that she had Epstein’s list of high-profile clients on her desk ready for review and release.
This goes against the DOJ and FBI claims now that there is no client list.
Bondi insists that she was referring to the Epstein files as a whole and not just specifically the client list.
