Hours after the murder of tricky influencer Charlie Kirk, the director of the Federal United States Investigation Department, FBI Kash Patel said the crime suspect was in custody. However, the shooter was not. The two men who had been detained were quickly released and Utah’s authorities acknowledged that the shooter was still on the run.
The false warranty was more than a slip. She highlighted the uncertainty about Patel’s leadership in the FBI when the department’s credibility – and Patel’s own – are under extraordinary pressure.
Patel now approaches the supervision hearings of the United States Congress, which should take place on Tuesday, 16, and on Wednesday, which will face not only questions about this investigation, but broader doubts about whether it can stabilize a federal agency to apply the law fragmented by political disputes and internal turbulence.
Unique opportunity
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Democrats are ready to press Patel about the resignation of senior executives who generated a lawsuit, their insistence on the complaints of US President Donald Trump related to Russia, even after the end of the investigation, and a reorganization of resources that prioritized the fight against illegal immigration and the crimes on the streets, although the FBI was defined for decades for their work in complex threats, such as spying and the spying public corruption.
This adds to the questions about the treatment given to the files of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual exploitation, the addition of an adjunct codire to work alongside deputy director Dan Bongino and the use of polygraphs in some agents in recent months to identify leakage sources. Republicans, in turn, will probably unite in their defense or redirect the spotlight to the FBI critics.
The hearings will offer the most important stage Patel so far and perhaps the clearest test to know if it can convince the country that the FBI, under its supervision, can avoid aggravating its mistakes in a moment of political violence and growing distrust.
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“Due to the skepticism that some members of the Senate had and still have, it is extremely important that he performs great performance in these supervision hearings,” said former FBI executive, Gregory Brower, who acted as his main employee for congressional matters.
The FBI refused to comment on Patel’s next testimony to the committee.
Error raised doubts about capacity
Kirk’s murder is a carefully accompanied case, not only because it is the latest wave of political violence in the US, but also because of Kirk’s friendship with Trump, Patel and other administration figures and allies.
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While Salt Lake City agents were conducting the investigation after confirming the influencer’s death on Wednesday, 10, Patel published on his X (former Twitter) profile that “the suspect for the horrible shooting” was “in custody.” Utah’s governor Spencer Cox said at a almost simultaneous news conference that “who did it” would be found, suggesting that the authorities were still looking for. Shortly thereafter, Patel posted that the person in custody had been released.
“This does not convey the message you want the public to receive,” said FBI Chris O’leary’s retired executive. “It had the opposite effect. People start to wonder what is happening.”
Questions
On Thursday, 11, a reported press conference was canceled due to “fast developments”, while Patel and Bongino traveled to Utah. It was held at night. Patel attended, but did not speak.
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As the search was extended, Patel vented angrily with FBI officials on Thursday about what he perceived as a failure to keep him informed, including the fact that he did not quickly receive a photograph of the suspect of the crime. The information was confirmed by two persons familiar with the matter, who were not allowed to discuss it and spoke on condition of anonymity. The American newspaper The New York Times had previously released details of the call.
Asked about the analysis of his performance, the FBI issued a statement saying that it worked with local authorities to bring the suspect to make the fatal shooting, Tyler Robinson, to court and “will continue to be transparent with the American people.”
Patel’s overall response did not go unnoticed in the conservative circles. The prominent strategist Christopher Rufo posted on X that it was “time for the Republicans to evaluate if Kash Patel is the right person to direct the FBI.”
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At a news conference on Friday, 12, and on social networks on Saturday, 13, Patel highlighted his supervision of the investigation, emphasizing his decision to publicize Robinson’s photographs as an important advance in the case. Robinson’s father recognized him in the photos, triggering a series of events that resulted in the delivery of his son to the authorities.
Patel received support from Trump on Saturday. The Republican reposed in X a publication of a Fox News Channel journalist who said he spoke to Trump, and that the president said Patel and the FBI “did a great job.”
FBI Executives Resignation
The same day Kirk was killed, Patel also faced a lawsuit filed by three senior executives of the FBI fired in a cut that occurred in August, which they characterized as a retaliation campaign of the Trump administration.
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Among them was Brian Driscoll, who, as an interim FBI director in the early days of the Trump administration, resisted the requirements of the Justice Department to provide the names of agents who investigated the riot of January 6, 2021 in the capitol.
Driscoll claimed in the lawsuit that he was fired after questioning the desire of leading to end the work of an agent involved in an FBI pilot program, which had been erroneously identified on social networks as part of the FBI search for documents classified on Trump’s property in Mar-ago.
Restructuring follows a trend that began before Patel took over, when more than half a dozen senior executives were forced to leave under the justification of the Justice Department that they could not be “reliable” to implement Trump’s agenda.
Since then, there has been a significant turnover in the leadership of the 55 FBI regional offices. Some went out for promotions or pensions, but others for ultimatum to accept new functions or resign. The head of Salt Lake City’s office, an experienced investigator of counterterrorism, was taken from her position weeks before Kirk was killed at a Utah college, according to people familiar with the decision.
Change of FBI priorities under Patel
Patel has arrived at the FBI already being a critic of the agency’s leadership, including for investigations on Trump, which he claims to have politicized the institution. Under the coordination of Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the FBI and the Justice Department were involved in politically delicate investigations, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James.
He moved quickly to reshape the agency, with the FBI and the Justice Department working to investigate one of the Republican President’s main complaints about the Republican’s relationship with Russia. Trump calls this investigation, which has not established a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump’s campaign, “farce.”
The Justice Department seemed to confirm, in an unusual statement that was investigating former FBI director James Comey and former Central Intelligence Agency Director (CIA) John Brennan, central figures in the Russian saga, without reporting exactly why. PAM determined that the evidence be presented to a large jury.
Critics of the new investigation into Russia consider it to be a transparent attempt to turn the page after the strong negative reaction that the FBI and the Justice Department suffered from Trump’s base after the July announcement that they would not disclose additional documents from the Epstein case.
Meanwhile, Patel raised the fight against street crime, drug trafficking, and illegal immigration to the top of the FBI’s agenda, alignment with Trump’s agenda.
The agency is not apologizing for its aggressive acting in US cities that Trump management claims to be consumed by the crime. Patel states that the thousands of resulting arrests, many related to immigration, are “what happens when you let good police be good police.”
But some are concerned that the focus on street crime can divert attention from the sophisticated threats of public corruption and national security, for which the FBI has been, especially – if not exclusively – responsible.
