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Fact Check: Rumor has it Ted Lieu played recording in Congress of Kash Patel admitting he was told to 'bury' Epstein investigation. Here's the truth
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Claim: During a House Judiciary Committee hearing in March 2026, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California played an audio recording of FBI Director Kash Patel admitting he was told to "bury" the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Rating: In March 2026, a rumor circulated online that Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California played an audio recording during a House Judiciary Committee hearing that allegedly captured FBI Director Kash Patel admitting he was told to "bury" the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. For example, one Facebook post (archived) shared on March 11 claimed Patel "was caught on tape admitting that he was told to bury the Epstein investigation just 11 days into his tenure." The post further alleged that Patel invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Other examples of the claim appeared on Threads and Facebook, and multiple Snopes readers contacted us to ask whether the rumor was true. (Morning Current via Facebook) We first used search engines such as Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo to locate possible evidence from credible sources about Lieu playing an audio recording of Patel during a hearing. If the story were true, journalists with reputable news outlets, such as The Associated Press or Reuters, would have widely reported on it. That was not the case. Instead, the rumor was fictional. It originated from a Facebook page called Morning Current, which links to blog pages that use artificial intelligence tools to create inspiring or shocking stories about public figures. Therefore, we've rated this claim false. Creators of such content capitalize on social media users' willingness to believe and share the made-up stories, profiting from advertising revenue on external websites to which the posts link. (Snopes has previously reported on the business strategy.) We reached out to the manager of the Morning Current page to ask why it had created the false story about Lieu's audio evidence against Patel without a disclaimer noting its inauthenticity. The contact email provided bounced back, further indicating the page doesn't share authentic content. We will update this story if we receive a response. Some posts spreading the false rumor about Lieu and Patel included links in the comments sections to articles on WordPress blogs. The comments promised more details about the alleged audio recording in the links. For example, one post promoted this advertisement-filled story. The article's text included clear signs of AI generation, including emotionally charged but vague language and incorrect details. For example, the article alleged the evidence was revealed during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on March 10, 2026, but the U.S. Congress's official calendar showed no such meeting was held on that day. GPTZero, a tool that aims to detect AI-generated text, also determined with 100% certainty that the article's text was AI-generated. (GPTZero) Let us note here: These types of AI detection tools are fallible. Snopes cautions people against using them for definitive answers on media's authenticity without supporting evidence. Snopes has debunked similar rumors before. For example, in March 2026, we traced the source of a false story about a tunnel network under a luxury mansion owned by "prominent immigration attorneys" in Minneapolis that spread via similar methods. "Committee Schedule." Congress.Gov, United States Congress, 10 Mar. 2026, https://www.congress.gov/committee-schedule/daily/2026/03/10.