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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross.

Today we're going to talk about FBI director Cash Patel with Mark Fisher,

who profiles Patel on the current issue of the New Yorker.

It's titled Cash Patel's Acts of Service. It's subtitled,

the FBI director isn't just enforcing the president's agenda at the Bureau, he's seeking

retribution for its past investigations of Donald Trump. Fisher also writes about other

controversies surrounding Patel, ranging from whether he's even qualified for the job,

to his conflicts of interest, and how he's transforming the FBI's mission as he focuses on cracking

down on undocumented immigrants. Journalist Mark Fisher was a longtime writer and editor at the Washington

Post, and co-author of the book, Trump revealed, before

becoming a New Yorker contributor. We recorded our interview yesterday morning before both the House

and the Senate approved the release of the Epstein files. Let's start with an excerpt of what Patel

had to say about the Epstein files when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee last September.

Here he is being questioned by California Democrat Eric Swalwell.

You said you don't know the number of times Trump's name appears in the files, so it could at least be a thousand times. Is that right?

The number is a total misleading factor. We have not released

anyone's name that we have not released anyone's name in the EFstein files that has not been credible.

Director could at least be a thousand times. We have released every piece of legally permissible

information. Okay. You can characterize the numbers however you want it.

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