鬼百合
One day we will wake to his obituary :-)
It’s never a good idea for the FBI director to wrongly suggest that a criminal suspect has been caught — but for Kash Patel, the moment was especially ill-timed.
On Wednesday evening, as the investigation into the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk unfolded in Utah, Patel bungled one of his first messages to the public. He prematurely seemed to declare that the shooter had been captured.
“The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody,” Patel posted on X. Less than two hours later, he announced the person had been “released after an interrogation by law enforcement.” On Thursday afternoon, the search for a suspect was still ongoing.
Patel’s blunder came at a time when the embattled director was already under scrutiny from all sides of the political spectrum — and from many current and former agents in the bureau itself. Even though Patel was President Donald Trump’s hand-picked choice to lead the bureau, some MAGA influencers have quickly soured on him for his handling of the files of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats and FBI veterans, meanwhile, have harshly criticized Patel for presiding over massive upheaval at the bureau: Respected senior agents have resigned or been fired, and many of those who remain have been subject to loyalty tests and hasty reassignments.
Now, Patel — a former podcast host whom many bureau veterans saw as too inexperienced for the job — must lead an agency in turmoil as it pursues the most high-profile investigation of his tenure so far.
Commentators on the far right immediately seized on Patel’s rushed suggestion that the shooter had been caught.
“Suspect still on loose. Unreal. Get him,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham posted about 45 minutes after Patel’s correction.
“Why is the head of the @FBI speculating like everyone not in the know?” wrote Joseph Biggs, an associate of far-right radio host Alex Jones and a leader of the Proud Boys who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for seditious conspiracy on Jan. 6, 2021. His sentence was commuted by Trump.
“@FBIDirectorKash you’re the person we are supposed to get the final truth from,” Biggs continued. “Stop all this click bait shit you keep doing. It’s unbecoming of the office in which you represent and only proves you were a horrible pick for this position.”
A spokesperson for the FBI didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The Kirk shooting investigation is not the only pressure Patel is facing. Just hours before the incident, Patel was hit with an explosive federal lawsuit accusing him of orchestrating a politically motivated purge of the bureau’s leadership. The three plaintiffs in the case — a former acting FBI director and two other former FBI leaders — alleged that Patel and other allies of Trump ousted them after their refusal to carry out political errands.
In a remarkable foreshadowing of what would transpire later in the day, the lawsuit also portrayed Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino as fixated on their social media presence and alleged they told agents they should be “posting more about their successful investigations and other ‘FBI wins’ on social media.”
Despite the poor optics, one expert said Patel’s fumble was unlikely to harm the investigation.
“I think that he was preliminary, and that’s unfortunate,” Eric O’Neill, a former FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative, said of Patel’s post about the Kirk investigation. But, O’Neill added, “I don’t think that it does any damage to law enforcement.”
“I think that there might have been a stumble out of the starting gate,” he said, “but the FBI is caught up and now fully has the reins on this investigation.”
The MAGA faithful, though, still appear ready to pounce on the bureau’s every move, even with one of their own at the helm. When the FBI on Thursday announced a $100,000 reward for information that could lead to an arrest in Kirk’s killing, far-right activist Laura Loomer criticized the move.
“So the DOJ and FBI are willing to offer $50 million for information about @NicolasMaduro, but only $100,000 for information about who killed Charlie Kirk on American soil in a cold blooded assassination?!?” Loomer wrote on X. “This is honestly embarrassing for the FBI and our country.”
Patel for months has been battling outrage from Trump’s MAGA base over the FBI’s handling of files related to Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Patel stoked Epstein conspiracy theories for years before taking the reins at the FBI, but after he became the director, the bureau and the Justice Department in July released a memo saying that “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” That fueled backlash against Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Patel is slated to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where he’s likely to face tough questioning over the bureau’s recent spate of personnel departures and its July decision to forgo disclosing additional materials in the Epstein case.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who is not on the Judiciary panel, said he also suspected lawmakers would want an update on information about Kirk’s killing.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said he and his staff have begun planning topics to ask Patel about, including “apparently politically motivated firings within the FBI.”
Still, Patel is likely to have some supporters on the daises before him. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a key ally, said in a brief interview that he intends to ask Patel about allegations that former House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) had moved to leak information that would have been incriminating for Trump. Schiff, who is now a senator and has a long history as Patel’s political adversary, has denied the claims.
Jordan conceded that there would certainly be questions about the FBI’s handling of the Epstein case, but he defended the Trump administration, saying that the Justice Department is now handing over materials to congressional investigators.
“He’s doing a great job. They’ve arrested all kinds of bad guys, a much higher percentage than Christopher Wray and the Biden administration,” Jordan said. “I like the idea that they’re getting agents out of D.C. and the politics.”
Still, alumni of the FBI had some advice for Patel. “I would stay off social media,” said former FBI special agent Stuart Kaplan. “I would not be tweeting or sending out any sort of posting until such time as the investigation has come to completion.”
“I just think it’s a victim of times,” he added. “It’s not because of him being reckless or incompetent. I just think we are too tempted by our digital devices to feel that we need to put something out there.”
