WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel said Tuesday that there is no “credible information” in law enforcement files that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein trafficked young women to other individuals.

“There is no credible information, none,” Patel said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. “If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals.”

Some of Donald Trump’s fiercest supporters have tracked the Epstein case for years, believing “deep state” elites have been protecting Epstein associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood.

Patel’s comments come after he angered many Trump loyalists with a memo in July that effectively closed the investigation into Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking of underage girls.

In testimony before the committee, Patel also said an investigation is ongoing into members of an online gaming room frequented by Utah man Tyler Robinson, the alleged assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“There are a number of individuals that are currently being investigated and interrogated, and a number yet to be investigated and interrogated, specific to that chat room,” he said.

Asked by a senator whether others could have been involved, Patel said: “Yes sir.”

Patel came under fire from Democrats on the Senate panel for a purge of the FBI ranks of scores of agents who worked on criminal cases involving Trump or were perceived to be disloyal to the Republican president.

Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, accused Patel of inflicting “untold damage on the FBI” and putting “national security and public safety at risk” with an “unprecedented purge of FBI officials.”