FBI Director Kash Patel said Saturday the agency is ramping up its use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to counter domestic and international threats.

In a post on X, Patel said the FBI has been advancing its technology, calling AI a ‘key component’ of its strategy to respond to threats and stay ‘ahead of the game.’

‘FBI has been working on key technology advances to keep us ahead of the game and respond to an always changing threat environment both domestically and on the world stage,’ Patel wrote. ‘Artificial intelligence is a key component of this.

‘We’ve been working on an AI project to assist our investigators and analysts in the national security space — staying ahead of bad actors and adversaries who seek to do us harm.’

Patel added that FBI leadership has established a ‘technology working group’ led by outgoing Deputy Director Dan Bongino to ensure the agency’s tools ‘evolve with the mission.’

‘These are investments that will pay dividends for America’s national security for decades to come,’ Patel said.

A spokesperson for the FBI told Fox News Digital it had nothing further to add beyond Patel’s X post.

The FBI uses AI for tools such as vehicle recognition, voice-language identification, speech-to-text analysis and video analytics, according to the agency’s website.

Earlier this week, Bongino announced he would leave the bureau in January after speculation rose about his departure.

‘I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January,’ Bongino wrote in an X post Wednesday. ‘I want to thank President [Donald] Trump, AG [Pam] Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you. God bless America, and all those who defend Her.’

Preparations for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan are underway, according to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. The announcement comes after representatives from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey participated in high-level U.S.-led talks in Miami.

‘In our discussions regarding phase two, we emphasized enabling a governing body in Gaza under a unified Gazan authority to protect civilians and maintain public order,’ Witkoff wrote on X. ‘We also discussed regional integration measures, including trade facilitation, infrastructure development, and cooperation on energy, water, and other shared resources, as essential to Gaza’s recovery, regional stability, and long-term prosperity.

‘We reviewed next steps in the phased implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, underscoring the importance of sequencing, coordination, and effective monitoring in partnership with local Gazan institutions and international partners.’

In addition to looking forward to the next phase, the group reflected on the implementation of the first part of the ceasefire, which Witkoff said ‘yielded progress.’

During the first phase, humanitarian aid went into the Gaza Strip, hostilities were reduced and there was a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces. Additionally, all living hostages and most deceased hostages were released. The last remaining hostage is Ran Gvili, an Israeli police officer killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

The U.S.-led talks on the second phase of the plan were proceeded by a similar meeting in Cairo, which reportedly included Turkey and Egypt’s intelligence chiefs, as well as Qatar’s prime minister.

‘During the meeting, [they] also agreed to continue strengthening coordination and cooperation with the Civil Military Coordination Center to eliminate all obstacles to ensure the continuity of the ceasefire and to prevent further violations,’ a Turkish source told Reuters, adding that they also discussed countering alleged Israeli ceasefire violations.

The second phase of the deal involves the deployment of an international stabilization force and the development of an international body to govern Gaza. It also includes the disarmament of Hamas. Additionally, Israel will move further from the so-called ‘yellow line’ ahead of the international force taking over, according to The Times of Israel.

A woman whose concerns about Jeffrey Epstein were brushed off by the FBI three decades ago was vindicated Friday after the Department of Justice finally made her complaint public.

Maria Farmer’s complaint was buried in the thousands of files related to Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases that the DOJ published as part of its obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The document was dated Sept. 3, 1996, more than 10 years before Epstein first faced prosecution for sex crimes involving girls. In it, Farmer accused Epstein of stealing and selling photos of her young sisters. Farmer worked as an artist for Epstein and has long been outspoken about what she said was his abusive behavior.

Farmer has said the photos of her sisters cited in the 1996 complaint included nudity, and the complaint is labeled as a possible ‘child pornography’ case.

Names on the complaint were redacted, but The New York Times confirmed with Farmer that she was the one who filed it. Farmer told the outlet she felt ‘vindicated.’ 

‘I’ve waited 30 years. … I can’t believe it. They can’t call me a liar anymore,’ she said.

The complaint noted that Farmer was a professional artist whose work included the images of her then 12- and 16-year-old sisters.

‘Epstein stole the photos and negatives and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers,’ the complaint stated. ‘Epstein at one time requested [redacted] to take pictures of young girls at swimming pools. Epstein is now threatening [redacted] that if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down.’

Farmer and her sister Annie brought separate lawsuits in 2019 alleging Epstein and Maxwell sexually assaulted them, but the suits were dropped as part of a settlement involving accepting compensation from Epstein’s estate.

Farmer also sued the DOJ in July, alleging the Clinton administration FBI ‘chose to do absolutely nothing’ with her complaint in 1996, and that in the years since, Epstein was able to victimize more women. Farmer said she also complained again to the FBI in 2006 during the Bush administration.

Farmer’s complaint was among the tens of thousands of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell that the DOJ released on Friday, the transparency bill’s deadline. Other accusers, such as Marina Lacerda, have spoken out about their dissatisfaction with the file release, observing that it was incomplete and contained heavy redactions. The department has said more files are coming within the next two weeks.

The Justice Department posted thousands of pages related to Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking cases on a public website Friday and said additional documents were forthcoming.

The trove of documents was released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law passed last month that imposed a 30-day deadline on the DOJ to publish all unclassified material related to the cases.

The files came from the DOJ, the FBI, the Southern District of New York and other entities, and they were expected to include public and nonpublic information about Epstein, a registered sex offender who faced charges of trafficking underage women before dying in prison in 2019 in what authorities said was a suicide.

The bill also required the DOJ to release flight logs, the DOJ’s internal communications about the cases, information on Epstein’s death and any material about people, government entities or companies with ties to Epstein’s ‘trafficking or financial networks.’

The documents included redactions and reasons for blocking out the information. The transparency bill gave the DOJ wide latitude to withhold information that could identify victims, child pornography and material that could jeopardize open investigations or litigation. The government could also leave out information ‘in the interest of national defense or foreign policy,’ the bill said.

Because President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on Nov. 19, the statutory deadline for release is Dec. 19.

The DOJ is already facing scrutiny for missing the cutoff date after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday’s documents were incomplete during an interview with Fox News.

Blanche said he expected the government to upload ‘several hundred thousand more’ pages in the coming couple of weeks. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned that Democrats are ‘working closely with attorneys for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and with outside legal experts’ to address the anticipated late files.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

More than a dozen politically exposed people and government officials’ names appear in the hundreds of thousands of pages of Jeffrey Epstein files made public Friday, sources said.

And Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the DOJ discovered more than 1,200 victims and their families during the exhaustive review, explaining the process behind determining which files could be released in a letter to Congress exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.

Sources told Fox News Digital that new photos of Epstein with former President Bill Clinton are part of the release. 

The Justice Department redacted the names and identifiers of victims. Fox News Digital has learned that the same redaction standards were applied to politically exposed individuals and government officials. 

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a letter written by Blanche to members of the House of Representatives regarding Friday’s anticipated release of the files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

‘We write to notify you that today the Department of Justice is producing hundreds of thousands of pages of responsive materials in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,’ Blanche wrote. 

‘Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, this unprecedented disclosure highlights our commitment to following the law, being transparent, and protecting victims,’ Blanche continued, noting that the production of documents comes within the 30 days required under the law signed by the president.

‘This letter will summarize the Department’s historic efforts and disclose specific details regarding the review and production process,’ Blanche continued.

‘Never in American history has a President or the Department of Justice been this transparent with the American people about such a sensitive law enforcement matter,’ he added. ‘Democrat administrations in the past have refused to provide full details of the Jeffrey Epstein saga. But President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Patel are committed to providing full transparency consistent with the law.’ 

In November, the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed, requiring the government to release within 30 days all unclassified material in its possession related to Epstein’s and associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases. 

President Donald Trump signed the bill into law in November. 

The law allows the DOJ to omit or redact any references to victims and files that could jeopardize pending investigations or litigation, such as a probe Bondi recently opened in New York into Epstein’s ties to Democrats. Information could also be left out ‘in the interest of national defense or foreign policy,’ the law says.

Meanwhile, in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Blanche revealed that the Justice Department, through its sprawling internal process, learned of more than 1,200 victims.

‘This process resulted in over 1,200 names being identified as victims or their relatives,’ Blanche wrote. ‘We have redacted reference to such names. In addition to redacting the names of these victims, we have also redacted and are not producing any materials that could result in their identification.’

Blanche explained that ‘all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials that relate to: Jeffrey Epstein including all investigations, prosecutions, or custodial matters’ are being released.

Also being released are any records relating to ‘Ghislaine Maxwell; flight logs or travel records..for any aircraft, vessel, or vehicle owned, operated or used by Jeffrey Epstein or any related entity.’

The DOJ is releasing any records or documents with ‘individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity or plea agreements, or investigatory proceedings;’ as well as any ‘entities..with known or alleged ties to Epstein’s trafficking or financial networks.’

The documents will also reference ‘any immunity deals, non-prosecution agreements, plea bargains, or sealed settlements involving Epstein or his associates.’

The DOJ also is making public any ‘internal DOJ communications, including emails, memos, meeting notes, concerning decisions to charge, not charge, investigate, or decline to investigate Epstein or his associates,’ Blanche said.

The documents will also include ‘all communications, memorandum, directives, logs or metadata concerning the destruction, deletion, alteration, misplacement, or concealment of documents, recordings or electronic data related to Epstein, his associates, his detention and death, or any investigative files.’

Blanche also said that any ‘documentation of Epstein’s detention or death, including incident reports, witness interviews, medical examiner files, autopsy reports, and written records detailing the circumstances and cause of death’ will also be released.

Blanche said the DOJ is continuing to review additional documents and other items for ‘potential responsiveness.’ 

‘Just this week, one of the Department’s components provided additional victim information requiring updated review of materials, and in the last few weeks multiple courts have granted the Department’s unsealing motions, requiring detailed review of thousands of pages of investigative and grand jury material.’

Blanche pointed to a ruling in the Southern District of New York requiring ‘additional layers of review to minimize the risk of inadvertent production of protected victim information.’

‘We anticipate this ongoing review being completed over the next several weeks.’

Blanche explained that prior to the passage of the new Epstein law, the DOJ conducted ‘a thorough review, including digital searches of databases, hard drives, and network drives as well as searches of real and personal properties.’ 

‘This review did not reveal credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals, nor did it undercover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,’ Blanche explained. He added that judges in the Southern District of Florida and the Southern District of New York have authorized the DOJ to produce materials ‘previously prohibited from production by protective orders and grand jury secrecy laws.’

Blanche explained that the review protocol instructed attorneys to redact or withhold material that contained personally identifiable information of victims; depicted or contained child sexual abuse materials…; would jeopardize an active investigation or prosecution; depicted images of death, physical abuse, or injury; and property classified national defense or foreign policy information.’

‘Protecting victims is of the highest priority for President Trump, the Attorney General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Justice,’ Blanche wrote. ‘As part of the review and production, the Department solicited counsel for any victims of Jeffrey Epstein and invited counsel to provide us with names of victims, whether previously identified or not.

‘This process resulted in over 1,200 names being identified as victims or their relatives,’ Blanche wrote. ‘We have redacted reference to such names. In addition to redacting the names of these victims, we have also redacted and are not producing any materials that could result in their identification.’ 

Blanche said the Justice Department’s review team consisted of more than 200 DOJ attorneys working to determine whether materials were responsive under the Act and, if so, whether redactions or withholding was required.

The review had multiple layers, according to Blanche, including 187 attorneys from the DOJ’s National Security Division conducting a review of all items for responsiveness. Next, a quality control team of 25 attorneys conducted a second-level review to ensure that victims’ personal identifying information was properly redacted and that materials that should not be redacted were not marked for redaction.

Then, assistant U.S. attorneys from the Southern District of New York reviewed the responsive materials to confirm appropriate redactions.

‘The Department will continue to follow the Review Protocol and add to the public website materials that are responsive under the Act, and the Department will inform Congress when that review and production are complete by the end of this year,’ Blanche said.

‘The Department’s commitment to transparency, following the law, and protecting all victims under the leadership of President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Patel will never waver.’

Fox News’ Ashley Oliver contributed to this report. 

On Friday, I debated cannabis legalization at AmericaFest 2025, the annual convention for Turning Point USA, the group led by Charlie Kirk until his assassination in September. Here’s my opening argument:

My opponent this afternoon is Katherine Mangu-Ward, the editor-in-chief of Reason magazine and a staunch libertarian. Katherine’s pinned post on X calls for the legalization of heroin, so at least she is consistent.

I too am consistent. I believe the liberal and libertarian effort to destigmatize, normalize, legalize, and even promote the use of ‘drugs of abuse‘ has been a catastrophe for the United States. 

We are a global outlier on this issue. We have reaped nothing but pain for a generation of ideologically driven decisions to make drugs more accessible to both young people and adults.

By ‘drugs of abuse,’ I mean drugs that produce a subjective high that makes people want to keep using them and to use more over time. The precise biochemical mechanism and whether the high is stimulating, sedating, or intoxicating matters less than the fact of its temporary pleasure. Of course those drugs include cannabis. Yes, alcohol is a drug of abuse too. So are medically prescribed drugs, from Oxycontin to Adderall to Valium.

Unfortunately, Thursday’s decision by President Trump to ‘reschedule’ cannabis and make it more accessible will only worsen this self-imposed crisis and lead to more drug-driven misery and death.

Let’s be clear about cannabis. Cannabis — particularly cannabis today, which is very high in THC, the chemical that intoxicates users — is very much a drug of abuse.

When they have been tested in rigorously controlled trials — and they have been tested over and over — cannabis and THC have shown almost no medical benefits. But they have many side effects, to both brain and body.

Normalizing drug use normalizes drug use. Pretending drugs of abuse are medicine normalizes it even faster.

Cannabis can cause psychotic episodes where users lose touch with reality and become paranoid that friends or family members want to hurt them. It can sometimes cause those users to become violent in response. It can cause episodes of prolonged vomiting that send users to emergency rooms. It is associated with traffic accidents and deaths. It raises the risk of heart attacks in users dramatically. And, yes, it is a gateway drug.

Overall, cannabis is probably at least as dangerous as alcohol. It is less obviously physically harmful, for despite its cardiovascular risks, it does not cause direct overdose. But it is more psychiatrically harmful.

Now we come to the simple, facile libertarian argument: but alcohol is legal! Cannabis should be legal too. In fact, all drugs should be legal — and again, I do appreciate the fact Katherine was honest enough to say that out loud.

My drug, my body, my choice.

Sounds good. Except that to use drugs is inevitably to risk consequences both to yourself and to other people that cannot be foreseen. Drugs follow their own logic.

Some drugs — especially opioids — frequently kill their users from overdose. Many drugs cause users to behave in antisocial ways — to become violent, or simply to stop caring about the possible consequences of their actions. And all drugs of abuse have addictive potential.

The libertarian solution to this problem is to ignore it, to say that users are responsible for their own behavior. If they become addicted, too bad for them.

This theory sounds nice. But it ignores reality.

The children and families around users and addicts inevitably bear the brunt of their antisocial behavior, and the rest of us cannot ignore its public harms. Even when it does not lead to full-bore addiction, drug use that is more than casual almost inevitably worsens the problems users have turned to it to solve. It is the most selfish of acts. It divorces users from the lives of people around them — and their own lives.

A religious person might call that behavior immoral. But one doesn’t have to be religious to recognize it has what economists call externalities. The user feels the subjective pleasure, while everyone else faces the potential consequences.

As a society, we seem to have become desensitized to the potentially horrific consequences of drug use.

We should not be. We must not be.

We — as individuals, and as a nation — must do everything possible to remind people of them. We must discourage it at every turn. That means stigmatizing drugs of abuse, not legitimizing them, not building industries that profit from heavy use and addiction.

It means driving up the price — in dollars and potential legal consequences — of drug use to discourage people who have not used from doing so, rather than making drugs cheap, openly advertised, and easily accessible.

It means understanding that every drug is a gateway drug, not just biochemically but societally. Normalizing drug use normalizes drug use. Pretending drugs of abuse are medicine normalizes it even faster.

Legalization is a red herring. Alcohol is legal, but we arrest people for alcohol consumption all the time — for underage use, for public drinking or intoxication, for drinking and driving. We will continue to arrest people for using cannabis too, even if the drug is fully legalized at the state and federal level.

But whatever the legal status of cannabis, we are not going to put every — or even many — cannabis users in jail. We don’t now, and we didn’t a generation ago. 

The question is whether we want encourage use: of cannabis, of Adderall, of alcohol, of OxyCONTIN, of fentanyl, of cocaine, of every legal and illegal drug. Legalizing cannabis is another step on that path to ruination.

I hope we do not take it.

Editor’s note: This column first appeared on the author’s Substack, ‘Unreported Truths.’

The Department of Justice began releasing final documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Friday, with a massive trove of documents that predominantly shows photos and heavily redacted materials categorized into four different sections. 

The DOJ on Friday afternoon released four different data sets of thousands of photos, New York grand jury material and evidence related to investigations surrounding Epstein. The documents and photos were released on the DOJ’s official website. 

Epstein was a well-connected financier who rubbed elbows with those at the highest echelons of government and private industry. He was convicted of sex trafficking minors in 2008 and served just more than one year of incarceration, which also included a controversial work-release arrangement under a plea agreement. 

He was arrested again in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking before he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell from suicide that same year, officials reported. 

DATA SET ONE: 

The first data set shows thousands of photos of the interiors and exteriors of Epstein’s properties, including in New York and on his private island, Little St. James. 

DATA SET TWO: 

The second data set released shows Epstein in personal photos with high-profile individuals, including former President Bill Clinton. The photos in the second data set show Epstein shirtless while sitting on a sofa, standing near a helicopter and many photos of him on boats.  

A photo in the set included Clinton shirtless in a hot tub. 

When asked about the photo, Clinton spokesperson Angel Urena directed Fox Digital to a statement he posted to X in response to the Epstein drop. 

‘The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton,’ he wrote. ‘This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be. Even Susie Wiles said Donald Trump was wrong about Bill Clinton.’

Urena said there are ‘two types of people’ involved in the Epstein scandal: those who did not know of Epstein’s crimes and cut him out of their lives upon his conviction and a second group of people who ‘continued relationships with him after’ his crimes came to light.

‘We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that,’ the Clinton spokesman continued. ‘Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats.’ 

DATA SET THREE:

The third data set released by the Department of Justice included heavily redacted photos of potential victims, documents from Epstein’s 2019 grand jury records that were also heavily redacted, and potential victim exhibits. 

DATA SET FOUR: 

The fourth data set in the document drop mostly showed evidence and exhibits from the investigations into Epstein, including documents dated 2005 and 2006, when the Palm Beach, Florida, Police and FBI began investigating Epstein over tips of potential sex trafficking. 

President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan law in November that required the Department of Justice to release all ‘unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials’ within 30 days of Trump’s signature.  

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday morning during an appearance on Fox News that the Department was set to ‘release several hundred thousand documents today,’ while adding that the DOJ anticipates releasing ‘more documents over the next couple of weeks.’

The Epstein Files Transparency Act specifically directs the Justice Department to release all unclassified records and investigative materials related to Epstein and his longtime partner Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as files related to individuals who were referenced in Epstein previous legal cases, details surrounding trafficking allegations, internal DOJ communications as they relate to Epstein and any details surrounding the investigation into his death.