FBI director Kash Patel has agreed to open an investigation into whether Donald Trump’s signature was forged in Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious 50th birthday book.
But during a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill, the MAGA acolyte also admitted he doesn’t know how many times Trump’s name appears in the Epstein files and that he had not yet reviewed all the FBI documents relating to the case.
“This is the largest sex trafficking case the FBI has ever been a part of. The buck stops at the top, and your testimony today is you have not reviewed all the files?” asked Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell.
“What I’ve been doing is being busy providing the safest country this country has seen in modern U.S. history,” Patel fired back.
The testimony came as the firestorm over the Epstein files followed the president all the way to the UK, where protesters marked Trump’s arrival by projecting images of him and Epstein on Windsor Castle.
But the issue is unlikely to go away soon, after Patel was cornered during the hearing into opening an investigation of the birthday book that was given to Epstein as a gift from his friends two decades ago.
Details of the book first emerged in a damning report by the Wall Street Journal in July, resulting in Trump filing a defamation lawsuit against the media outlet and his on-again-off-again ally, Rupert Murdoch.
But a full copy of the book was handed over to Congress by Epstein’s estate under subpoena earlier this month, confirming that it contained a lewd drawing and a signature that appears to be the president’s.
Trump, however, insists the signature is not his and has dismissed the book as a Democratic hoax designed to turn attention away from his achievements.
MOSKOWITZ: Will you be opening up an investigation into the Epstein state for putting out a fake document with the president’s signature linking him to the world’s largest pedophile ring?PATEL: On what basis?M: They literally put out a fake document according to the… pic.twitter.com/mEC84pq4z2
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 17, 2025
“Will you be opening up an investigation into the Epstein estate for putting out a fake document with the president’s signature linking him to the world’s largest pedophile ring?” Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz asked Patel.
“On what basis?” the FBI director replied.
“They literally put out a fake document, according to the president!” Moskowitz reminded him.
“Sure, I’ll do it,” Patel said.
Wednesday’s Capitol Hill hearing was the second in two days for Patel, who Trump handpicked to lead the FBI after he spent years peddling conspiracy theories about the agency and threatening to purge it from “deep state” enemies.
But the FBI director has come under fire in recent days over the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s assassination, when he prematurely announced on social media that a suspect had been apprehended following Kirk’s death.
Within hours, local Utah officials contradicted that statement, saying no suspect had been confirmed in custody. Patel later clarified that two individuals had, in fact, been questioned over the case but were then released.
Patel’s handling of the Epstein case—in which he promised transparency only to be part of a Justice Department memo trying to shut down the matter in June—has also riled MAGA world.
On Wednesday, during his hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Patel defended his handling of the issue, saying he had strived for transparency.
But he could not give clear answers as to how many times Trump appeared in the Epstein files.
“More than 100? More than 1000?” Zoe Lofgren asked him.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
Patel also couldn’t say if Prince Andrew was on Epstein’s client list, nor did he commit to meeting Epstein’s victims.
At one point, he even began reciting the alphabet to avoid detailing the connections between the president and the late child sex offender.
“Why don’t you try spelling it out if you’re going to mock?” Patel complained after Swalwell patronizingly quizzed him on whether he told Attorney General Pam Bondi that Trump was in the Epstein files.
“Yes, or no?” Swalwell demanded to know.
“Use the alphabet!” Patel fired back. “No? A, B, C, D, E, F… don’t want to do it?”
The post Keystone Kash Cornered Into Launching FBI Probe Into Trump’s ‘Forged’ Epstein Signature appeared first on The Daily Beast.
