Kash Patel Lashes Out at Jimmy Kimmel After Late-Night Segment on Epstein Files Ignites Fury at Mar-a-Lago

By Peter Baker and Jonathan Weisman Dec. 4, 2025

WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel unleashed a torrent of invective against Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday, accusing the late-night host of spreading “deep-state disinformation” in a segment that mocked Mr. Patel’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and the president’s ties to the disgraced financier. The outburst, delivered in a hastily convened news conference outside the J. Edgar Hoover Building, capped a day of escalating tensions that reportedly spilled over into disarray at President Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, where aides clashed over the administration’s refusal to release the full trove of documents.

Mr. Patel, a Trump loyalist whose appointment as director has drawn bipartisan condemnation for his history of promoting conspiracy theories, did not hold back. “Jimmy Kimmel thinks he’s a comedian? He’s a propagandist, a clown in a suit peddling lies to cover for the real peddlers — the Clintons, the Obamas, the whole rotten elite,” Mr. Patel thundered, his voice echoing off the limestone facade. He brandished a stack of what he called “redacted truths,” vowing to investigate ABC for “inciting violence against law enforcement.” The remarks, live-streamed on the FBI’s official X account, drew immediate rebukes from Democrats and even some Republicans wary of Mr. Patel’s vendetta-driven leadership.

The flash point was Mr. Kimmel’s Wednesday monologue on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” which has become a lightning rod in the administration’s broader war on media critics. With the studio lights dimmed for dramatic effect, Mr. Kimmel displayed grainy photos of Mr. Trump and Epstein at Mar-a-Lago parties in the 1990s, overlaying them with on-screen text from newly unsealed court filings. “Kash Patel says he’s draining the swamp, but he’s building a dam around the Epstein files thicker than Trump’s hair,” Mr. Kimmel said, pausing for the audience’s eruption of laughter. “Why won’t he release them? Is it because they name-drop the president more times than ‘The Apprentice’ reruns?”

The host then pivoted to Mr. Patel’s congressional testimony last month, where he had promised “total transparency” on the Epstein case only to cite national security exemptions when pressed by House Judiciary Committee Democrats. “Patel’s like that uncle at Thanksgiving who swears he’ll fix the sink but just hides the leak,” Mr. Kimmel quipped, showing a split-screen of Mr. Patel wielding a chainsaw in a campaign ad — a prop he once used to symbolize “cutting through bureaucracy” — juxtaposed with Epstein’s infamous “Lolita Express” flight logs. The punchline landed hard: “Maybe Kash should use that chainsaw on the redactions. Or is he too busy flying FBI jets to Mar-a-Lago for girlfriend defense briefings?”

The bit, which also referenced a recent scandal over Mr. Patel’s alleged use of government aircraft for personal trips to visit his partner, Alexis Wilkins, amid online harassment, drew 3.2 million viewers — a season high for the show, according to Nielsen. Backstage sources described Mr. Kimmel as “gleeful but cautious,” aware that his September suspension over comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk had nearly ended his run. That episode, prompted by Federal Communications Commission threats from Trump appointee Brendan Carr, had rallied Hollywood heavyweights like George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey in his defense.

Mr. Patel’s response was swift and scorching. Within 90 minutes of the broadcast, he fired off a series of posts on X, including one with a doctored image of Mr. Kimmel as Epstein’s sidekick. “This hack’s ‘jokes’ are a distraction from the real criminals he protects. We’re coming for the truth — and for enablers like you,” he wrote, tagging ABC executives and FCC Chair Mr. Carr. By morning, Mr. Patel had escalated to the news conference, flanked by deputies including former podcaster Dan Bongino, who nodded vigorously as his boss railed against “Hollywood peddlers of poison.”

The rhetoric reverberated to Mar-a-Lago, where the evening devolved into what one insider called “a full meltdown.” Witnesses, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations, described a tense dinner in the estate’s gilded ballroom interrupted by projections of the Kimmel clip on a massive screen. Mr. Trump, according to two attendees, slammed his fist on the table upon seeing the flight-log graphic, barking, “Kash, why the hell haven’t we burned those files yet? Fake news is killing us!” Aides scrambled to placate him, with one reportedly spilling a glass of Diet Coke in the frenzy.

Tensions boiled over when Pete Hegseth, the president’s defense secretary nominee and a Fox News alumnus, confronted Mr. Patel over the jet-use allegations woven into Mr. Kimmel’s routine. “You’re making us all look like hypocrites,” Mr. Hegseth allegedly shouted, referencing a Times of India report that Mr. Patel had been “yelled at” by Mr. Trump during a recent visit for similar extravagances. Mr. Bongino, ever the provocateur, jumped in with a defense laced with profanity, prompting a near-physical altercation that required intervention from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. By midnight, several staffers had decamped to the estate’s bungalows, firing off anonymous leaks to friendly outlets like The New Republic, which detailed the “circular firing squad” atmosphere.

The episode exposes deepening fissures in Mr. Trump’s inner circle, where loyalty is prized but competence is often secondary. Mr. Patel, 45, a former national security aide who rose through the ranks by echoing Mr. Trump’s grievances, has faced mounting scrutiny since his Senate confirmation. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, led by Representatives Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Pramila Jayapal of Washington, have subpoenaed records on the Epstein delays, accusing Mr. Patel of shielding Mr. Trump from scrutiny. Even some Republicans, like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have privately urged faster releases, fearing the files — which mention Mr. Trump over 70 times, though without proven misconduct — could derail confirmation battles.

Legal scholars see Mr. Patel’s attacks on Mr. Kimmel as part of a chilling pattern. “This isn’t oversight; it’s intimidation,” said Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law professor emeritus. The American Civil Liberties Union filed an emergency motion Thursday seeking a restraining order against FCC interference, citing the Kimmel suspension as precedent. ABC, owned by Disney, issued a terse statement: “We stand by our programming and the First Amendment.” Insiders say the network is bracing for renewed license challenges, especially after a Sacramento shooting last month targeting affiliates, linked in court filings to anti-Kimmel vitriol and Epstein frustrations.

Mr. Trump himself weighed in from Mar-a-Lago via Truth Social at 2:17 a.m.: “Jimmy Kimmel is a LOSER with BAD RATINGS who attacks GREAT PATRIOTS like Kash Patel. ABC should be ashamed — or investigated! Epstein hoax by Dems!” The post, viewed 4.5 million times, amplified the chaos, with #KashMeltdown trending alongside #FreeTheFiles.

For Mr. Kimmel, the controversy is bittersweet vindication. In a Thursday op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter, he wrote, “Comedy holds power to account; silencing it serves only the powerful.” As “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” prepared for its next taping, the band rehearsed a jaunty tune with lyrics about “redacted truths.” Outside Mar-a-Lago’s gates, protesters chanted for transparency, their signs reading “Kash Out the Lies.” In Washington, the machinery of government ground on, but the shadows of Epstein — and the spotlights of satire — grew longer.