‘I Call Bulls*** On Your Entire Career’: FBI Director Kash Patel Wrecks Swalwell

During a fiery showdown on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel pushed back against repeated taunts from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), declaring he would “call bulls*** on your entire career in Congress.”

Despite the fact that Patel, as FBI Director, has a massive job supervising and keeping the country safe, Swalwell began by maligning Patel because Patel said he had not read all of the voluminous Epstein files. Patel pointed out, “What I’ve been doing is been busy providing the safest country this country has seen in modern U.S. history in historic speed because the men and women of the FBI are given the resources to reduce the homicide rate, to reduce the drug trafficking rate, to reduce the amount of children that have been trafficked…”

Swalwell then obsessed on the number of times President Donald Trump’s name might have been mentioned in the Epstein files, speculating hyperbolically, starting with 1000, 500, and finally 100, which Patel denied. When Swalwell claimed that it was Patel’s job to know the exact number, Patel fired back. “My job is to provide for the safety and security of this country. My job is not to engage in political innuendo, so you can go out to the sticks and get your 20-second hits and your fundraising article,” adding, “Your fixation on this matter and baseless accusations that I’m hiding child pedo files is disgusting.”

Swalwell still wouldn’t let go of the issue, asking repeatedly if Patel had told Attorney General Pam Bondi that Trump’s name was in the Epstein files, even insulting Patel by saying each word slowly in separate syllables, as if he were speaking to a child. Patel replied, “Why don’t you try spelling it out. Use the alphabet. A B C D E F, don’t want to do it?”

“You’ve played this cute shell game where you say you can’t release everything because the court has said that it legally is not allowed to be released, but the court calls bulls***,” Swalwell accused.

Finally, Swalwell moved on, saying, “Let’s move on, director. You wrote a book called ‘Government Gangsters.’ You identified 20 individuals in that book. You put me on that list, at the top of the list. Thank you. My children find it flattering. Twenty of those individuals have been investigated or have had adverse actions. Director, considering that you have identified these people as, ‘government gangsters,’ will you recuse yourself from making any investigation decisions about these individuals?”

“Anyone that has been terminated at the FBI has been done because they failed to meet the muster and their constitutional obligation,” Patel fired back. “No, no. I’m going to borrow your terminology and call bulls*** on your entire career in Congress. It has been a disgrace to the American people.”

Heated exchange between Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and FBI Director Kash Patel on Epstein Files.

FBI Director Patel: “I’m going to borrow your terminology and call bullshit on your entire career in Congress. It has been a disgrace to the American people.” pic.twitter.com/diIuX7rYGu

— CSPAN (@cspan) September 17, 2025