MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace hurls Kash Patel's own words back in his face

FBI Director Kash Patel answered questions on Wednesday from the House Judiciary Committee, and MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace responded to the testimony by quoting one of his own comments back.

Democrats probed Patel about his ability to release the investigation files about accused child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

After watching the hearing, Wallace recalled Patel's comments from December 2023 while he was interviewing with Benny Johnson.

"House Republicans, put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are," Patel ranted at the time.

Before the House on Wednesday, however, Patel said that three federal courts said that he couldn't release the files. It was a claim fact-checked by the lawyers on the committee, saying that there is no law preventing him from releasing the files.

Legal analyst Kristy Greenberg, who is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Wallace that the protective order in place from the grand juries would never prevent the FBI from being able to release the Epstein files. In fact, two judgeswrote in their respective rulings that the FBI and Justice Department could release all of the information they have without approval from the judges.

Still, Patel tried to claim the courts hamstrung him.

"I mean, Judge Berman issueda court order where he said,I'm not producing the grand jury materials, and part of the reason whyis because you can produce theEpstein files, including thoseinterview reports," recalled Greenberg.

"Ultimately, what it comesdown to is they don't have a leg to stand onwith respect tokeeping some of this material secret. And the more that they blame the judges and try toblame Democrats and blameeverybody else and say that thelaw is preventing them fromdoing — it, it's just not true," Greenberg continued.

She went so far as to suggest a follow-up to clarify the position with the judge, allowing them to instruct the FBI and DOJ to turn over the files directly.

Wallace quoted Patel's words back again, "House Republicans, put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are."

She said that House Republicans in 2023 had the power to find out "who the pedophiles are."

"Kash Patel is now in charge of that department," Wallace said. "And his answers are not only illogical legally, they're totally unrelated to everything he ever said he believed House Republicans could do in the past."