WASHINGTON—FBI Director Kash Patel sat down with The Epoch Times for an exclusive interview on Nov. 26 in which he highlighted the agency’s effectiveness this year and investigations that uncovered espionage rings, rescued missing children, and recovered burn bags containing thousands of government documents.

The discussion ranged from Patel’s perspective on his first 10 months on the job to future expectations and objectives, with a focus on taking down cartels and other criminal organizations.

The interview with Jan Jekielek, host of “American Thought Leaders” can be viewed on EpochTV.

Here are nine key takeaways from the interview:

1. Response to Firing Reports

The director said recent media reports that President Donald Trump was considering firing him were false.

“It was pretty comical, because the president and I were both discussing law enforcement operations across the country with our team, the attorney general and other members of the department, and we were made aware that there was reporting that I was being terminated,” Patel said.

He rejected the coverage as an attempt to distract from the FBI’s accomplishments over the past 10 months.

“I think we are executing the president’s mission wildly successfully in a historic fashion,” Patel said. “And I think when the media gets together with anonymous sources, like they always do, and it gets louder and louder and louder, that just means our mission is the most effective it’s ever been.”

2. Comey Case Dismissal

Patel also reacted to the Nov. 24 ruling of Judge Cameron McGowan Currie of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina that dismissed charges against one of his predecessors, former FBI Director James Comey, by saying that more information is yet to come.

“Stay tuned for right after Thanksgiving, and you’ll see multiple responses,” Patel said.

Comey was accused of lying to Congress during his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020. The dismissal leaves future legal action uncertain, as the statute of limitations has passed, and Currie’s order declared the indictment void because of what she described as the “invalid appointment” of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan as prosecutor.

3. Murder Rate Drops to Lowest in Modern History

The director celebrated an upcoming report that will reveal that homicide rates have plummeted by 25 percent, to the lowest level in decades.

“I’m happy to announce, finally, that one of the big targets we had for this year, obviously, was to reduce the murder rate across America,” Patel said. “And we, this FBI, [are] going to be releasing the murder rate numbers in December, which is the lowest it has been in modern history, by double digits.”

The murder rate in 2024 was five per 100,000 people, a decline of 15.8 percent from the year before and about 1 percent higher than in 2015, according to Department of Justice data published in August.

Statistics show that approximately 17,000 people were murdered in the United States in 2024, down about 15 percent from the prior year but an increase of nearly 7 percent from 2015.

4. Arrests of 764 Network Skyrocket

The FBI targeted the notorious 764 network—an organization known to harm children, named after the area code in Texas where the group originated—whose founder was sentenced to 80 years in federal prison.

“This should be headline news every day, because the protection of our children is one of our biggest priorities here,” Patel said.

He described the bureau’s urgency in taking down the group, which he said was involved in animal torture and crimes against children.

“We made a huge push this year to protect our children against these online predators, and this is the worst of the worst,” Patel said.

“That’s how hard we’re going after this disgusting group of individuals, these criminals, and we’re not going to stop until we safeguard the online community.”

In addition, the FBI helped recover 6,000 missing children so far this year, a 25 percent jump from the year before, he said.

5. ‘Mapping Out the Money’ Tied to Antifa

Trump’s executive order from September designating Antifa a domestic terror organization was well received by the director.

“It’s an absolutely brilliant move by President Trump because it allows us to use the tool set that we utilize for foreign terrorist organizations,” Patel said.

Increased intelligence and operational capabilities allow for more comprehensive investigations and the identification of financial connections, he said, noting that about two dozen individuals were arrested for materially supporting terrorism.

“We’re treating them as [the] terrorist organization that they are and mapping out the money,” Patel said. “With our partners in Treasury, we are following the money, mapping out the entire network and treating them as a terrorist organization under the authorities the president has given us.”

More updates are expected in the coming months.

“I think in the turn of the new year, you’re going to see some very righteous prosecutions and investigations,” Patel said.

6. Fentanyl Trafficking Operations Disrupted

The president and his administration prioritized the dismantling of fentanyl trafficking operations, with steady progress occurring this year, according to the director, who said the flow of 13 precursors and seven other chemicals used to make the deadly opioid has stopped.

“That pipeline being shut off is forcing drug traffickers to scramble, which we’re seeing, for alternatives,” Patel said. “We know where they are, we know who they are, and we know how they do it.”

He described recent agreements with Chinese Communist Party officials to stem the export of precursors in exchange for tariff reductions.

“We’re going to show the world jointly that we’ve adhered to this agreement, and if ... they violate that agreement on this particular issue, they know the consequences from the president are going to be severe in terms of tariffs and other matters,” Patel said.

“We’ve taken a whole-of-government approach to ensure that they’re going to adhere to this, and if they don’t, we’ll be the first ones to call it out.”

7. Espionage Arrests up 40 Percent

A focus on eradicating illegal foreign intelligence operations in the United States led to a jump in espionage arrests of 40 percent, Patel said.

“We are actually disrupting them. We’re kicking them out of our networks,” he said. “We’re bringing them to trial, and we’re putting them in prison. That is a very powerful public display of force.”

Some of the spies—including those from China, Russia, and Iran—were working with government officials and military members, among other instances of infiltration, according to the director.

One of the arrests involved a University of Michigan researcher who pleaded guilty in November to smuggling a biological pathogen into the United States.

“Those are actual results that are making a difference, versus just opening cases,” Patel said.

8. Response to Critics

The director dismissed recent reports suggesting that security measures taken to protect his girlfriend, country music singer and songwriter Alexis Wilkins, were inappropriate.

“I think it’s disgusting that an agency head has to even address the fact that their partner’s life is continuously being threatened,” Patel said. “We treat my partner like any agency head treats their partner.”

He said death threats against her made it necessary to provide protection and that all decisions were handled independently by “career FBI agents.”

“I don’t have any part in that,“ Patel said. ”They make those decisions.”

Other critics point to his use of the FBI’s jet as excessive, a notion he rejects entirely because of existing laws meant to protect government officials.

“I’m using the plane less than my prior two predecessors ... and just to foot-stomp this, I don’t have the option of flying commercial,” Patel said.

FBI directors are among the officials who must use government aircraft—equipped with secure communication methods—for all of their travel, including personal travel, but must reimburse the government for political or personal travel.

Patel highlighted his predecessors’ use of Reagan National Airport—which he said cost taxpayers up to $7,000 per occurrence—and emphasized the reforms he implemented to reduce expenditures, estimating total savings of about $4 million annually.

9. Burn Bag Room Disclosures

A discovery made in July of a room filled with thousands of documents related to the Russia collusion investigation that were intended for destruction contains secrets the public will soon have access to, Patel said.

“You’re going to see everything we found in that room, in one way or another, be it through investigation, public trial, or disclosure of the Congress,” Patel said.

He said the obfuscation of sensitive materials is commonplace in the federal government.

“When the United States government and the agency want things to disappear, and want things to be buried and hidden, they know how to do it,” Patel said. “But what they didn’t count on was President Trump winning.”

Some documents of investigations pertaining to what has come to be known as “Russiagate,” including operations Arctic Frost and Crossfire Hurricane, remain sealed from public view. Crossfire Hurricane documents were twice ordered declassified by Trump, once in January 2021 and again in March.

“The reason the American public knows about the corruption and scandal and unlawful activities during Russiagate is because of the work I started,” Patel said.

“It is the single largest weaponization, politicization, of law enforcement against America, and specifically targeting a political party, because the institutional elite in Washington, D.C., didn’t like them and didn’t want them to win.

“The American public deserves to have not only accountability but reform to make sure that never happens.”