WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — Newly released FBI records show Director Kash Patel instructed the bureau’s public affairs office to respond to social media criticism by posting statistics about the FBI’s performance.
The Feb. 5 text exchange involved Patel and FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Benjamin Williamson. Patel sent Williamson a link to an anonymous X account that had posted criticism of him and asked whether the communications team was responding.
“What I asked you and your team to do is find them, and post our record year results back at them all, continuously,” Patel wrote.
Williamson described the account as an “‘Epstein didn’t kill himself’ bot account” and advised against responding. He also corrected Patel’s interpretation of the post’s engagement figures, explaining that the large figure Patel cited represented views rather than replies.
Williamson told Patel that responding to the account could “look bad on you.” Patel replied that his concern was the number of people seeing the criticism and said those users should also see FBI statistics.
The messages were included in FBI records concerning the bureau’s review of investigative materials related to Jeffrey Epstein. They were released after a Freedom of Information Act request by the Democracy Defenders Fund and were first reported this week.
The exchange occurred days after the Justice Department released millions of pages related to Epstein and one day after Patel discussed the case during a Fox News interview.
Patel has previously faced congressional questions about the FBI’s handling of Epstein-related records. During a September 2025 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, he told Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., that the bureau had found “no credible information” in its case files showing Epstein trafficked women or girls to other individuals.
The FBI declined to comment on the newly released messages.
