A statement has gone viral on social media claiming that U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California played a recording Kashi Patel During a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The posts go on to note that in the video, Patel allegedly said Trump told him to “bury him.” Epstein document. It then claimed that Patel invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to deny answering the questions Liu posed in the video.
However, Ht.com can confirm that the video is fake. First, the post suggested that Patel had a House Judiciary Committee hearing in March 2026, which was not the case. Patel last testified before the committee at an oversight hearing on September 17, 2025. FBI.
Additionally, there are no credible reports of Ted Liu having the clip aired on reputable news outlets. Snopes reports that the claim originated as a prank on the Facebook page “Morning Current.” While clearly not a parody page, Snopes reports that the page frequently posts misleading clickbait content with affiliate links.
The claim then made its way to YouTube, where a page called Silent Docket posted a video that received hundreds of thousands of views. Here is the video:
Ted Lieu feuds with Trump over Epstein dossier
Ted Lieu is perhaps one of the most outspoken critics of Donald Trump’s involvement in the Epstein dossier. California’s House Representative for District 36 has repeatedly attacked Trump after anonymous complainant Katie Johnson filed a complaint with the FBI claiming that Trump and Epstein raped her in 1994 when she was 13 years old.
Also read: Was ‘Katie Johnson’ arrested in connection with FBI complaint over Trump-Epstein feud? it’s a fact
On February 19, he held a press conference in California regarding the unredacted Epstein documents previewed by the House Judiciary Committee. He claimed Trump was mentioned “thousands of times” in them, and they also claimed the US president “raped and threatened to kill” minors.
Notably, both lawsuits filed by Katie Johnson (one of whom was a Jane Doe complaint) against Trump over the 1994 incident have been withdrawn. Trump has denied involvement or any wrongdoing.
