(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has accused a high-level FBI employee of threatening one of his staffers with a criminal investigation in an apparent attempt to dissuade the congressman from investigating the bureau’s conduct in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and the Jan. 5/6 Capitol Hill pipe bombs case.
“One of [FBI Director] Kash Patel’s staff threatened my staff with a criminal investigation if we didn’t straighten up and play ball,” Massie told Blaze Media reporter Steve Baker in a recent interview.
“He said, ‘We’re going to investigate your staff for fraud.’ And he told another one of my staff this: ‘If you want to play hard ball … this member of your staff is going to be criminally investigated for fraud.’”
Massie said he told FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino about the threat, and that Bongino promised to “take care of that.”
“Even [Bongino] understood that was not a good look. It’s probably illegal,” Massie said.
Kash threatened Massie’s staff with an FBI investigation over Epstein. Bingo Bongo tried to clean it up.
“It’s probably illegal, right?” pic.twitter.com/18LQLXYBy4
— Jim Stewartson, Antifascist 🇨🇦🇺🇦🏴☠️🇺🇸 (@jimstewartson) November 26, 2025
The congressman said his staffer received a non-apology from the FBI employee who issued the threat.
“The person who made the threat sent a text—I have a copy—that said ‘Massie told Bongino that I should apologize to you. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.’ He was unrepentant,” Massie said.
The FBI has not publicly responded to Massie’s allegations, which come as his office is handling a whistleblower disclosure from an agent who investigated the Capitol Hill pipe bombs case in January 2021. The whistleblower has reportedly alleged that he and other agents were conducting surveillance on a pipe bomb suspect, but were reassigned when they asked to interview that person.
Blaze Media’s Baker reported a purported suspect earlier this month, but he’s had to issue several corrections to his story. The person Blaze named has an attorney who called the report “defamatory,” and CBS reported on Tuesday that the person has an airtight alibi.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
