FBI Director Kash Patel clashed with skeptical Democrats at a contentious Senate oversight hearing Tuesday, defending his record amid criticism that he has politicized the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency and pursued retribution against perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump.

The hearing broke along starkly partisan lines. Republicans rallied support for Patel even as Democrats said he had debased the integrity of the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency. Patel, for his part, accused Democrats of grandstanding for cameras and looking to score political points in a series of testy shouting matches that punctuated more sedate testimony about the criminal and national security threats facing the U.S.

“You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate, you are a disgrace to this institution and you are an utter coward,” Patel told Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, raising his voice during one particularly testy exchange. “You can make an internet troll the FBI director, but he will always be an internet troll,” Schiff shot back as Patel continued to shout over him.

Patel also said the FBI has ‘no credible information’ that Epstein trafficked teenage girls to others while also acknowledging that previous investigations of Epstein were limited.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said that kind of answer was unlikely to satisfy demands to release more information.

“This issue is not going to go away,” Kennedy said. “And I think the central question for the American people is this: They know that Epstein trafficked young women for sex to himself. They want to know who if anyone else he trafficked these young women to.”

Patel said that the current case files only included “limited search warrants” between 2006 and 2007 because federal prosecutors in Florida had previously cut a secret deal with Epstein that allowed him to avoid prosecution for his previous actions