Things went nuclear during a mid-September Congressional hearing in which FBI Director Kash Patel loudly clashed with Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) over the Epstein files, with Goldman melting down in a total freakout over Kash’s points, at one point even screaming in the House Committee meeting in what was called an “unglued” freakout online.
For reference, the hearing in which the incident occurred was held by the House Judiciary Committee. During it, the FBI Director sat for about 5 hours and faced a litany of questions regarding his handling of the Epstein files, leading to him having severe spats with Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and Rep. Goldman, amongst others.
The clash between Goldman and Patel began when Goldman pressed him on the names of the victims and their statements, and Patel said, “we are releasing as much as legally allowed. That’s why we went…” Cutting him off, Goldman sanped, “How is that? How is that not legally allowed?” Entertainingly, Patel fired back, “Sir, do you know how court orders work? Do you know a protective order?”
Goldman, coldly responding to Patel’s insults, snapped, “Mr. Patel, I was a prosecutor, a real prosecutor for ten years. I know exactly how I was, and I want to understand what the court order prevents you from releasing witness statements that the FBI took.”
Using the woke representative’s own words against him in reply, Director Patel explained that the material is sealed, saying, “You should know that as a real prosecutor, when the court hand downs a protective order and a motion to seal, the material is sealed unless that testimony.” Goldman then started shouting at Patel over that claim, confused by the fact that the testimony was sealed by a judge.
Patel told him, “We are providing everything we can legally provide.” That set Goldman off again, and he angrily screeched, “Now that’s not my question. [The] question is, why are those witness statements that are not grand jury testimony, that if they were under a protective order, are no longer under a protective order?”
He continued, “Why are they not being released? . . . Why are you not going to the court like you did for the grand jury testimony to unseal those records.” Patel told him, “The DOJ did go to the court.” That provoked another angry tirade from Goldman, who said, “No, not on those records. Why aren’t you going? You just went on a Grand Jury…”
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At that point, Rep. Goldman was told that his time had expired, but he kept yelling at Patel anyway, snapping, “You are hiding the Epstein files! You are part of the cover up.” Patel fired back, “Any allegations that I’m a part of a cover up to protect child sexual trafficking and victims of human trafficking and sexual crimes is patently and categorically false.”
Commenting on the explosive back and forth in an entertaining post on X, conservative X personality Paul Szypula said, “FBI Director Kash Patel puts Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in his place over the Epstein files. This is embarrassing behavior from Goldman who becomes unglued and screams wildly. Democrats don’t care about Epstein. They did nothing about him under Joe Biden.”
Watch the incident here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video