FBI Director Kash Patel has hit back at raging criticism of his role in the search for the killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Patel defended the probe, including the time needed to find and arrest suspect Tyler Robinson, during a friendly interview with MAGA loyalist Sean Hannity.
Speaking on Fox News’ Hannity, Patel compared the time frame in arresting Robinson to locating suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.
Hannity said to Patel, “You got criticized for going out to the crime scene. I’m having a hard time understanding what people’s expectations are.”
Patel, a former podcaster, cigar entrepreneur, and T-shirt hawker, said Robinson was apprehended 33 hours after Kirk was shot dead while talking at a university in Utah.
He defended being on the ground at the university where Kirk was killed.
“That is how you investigate the matter properly,” Patel said. “When you talk about why it takes 33 hours, we, I, made the operational decision to immediately release enhanced videos and photographs of the suspect because the operational call I made for the FBI said we are about to smoke this guy out, and his family and friends and his internal network is going to assist it.”
Patel also faced criticism for being at the crime scene from former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
McCabe told CNN, “You would not go out to the scene of an ongoing crisis, post-crisis investigation.”
He added, “There’s all kinds of arrangements that have to be made. There’s all kinds of security concerns that arise. Transportation becomes very complicated. And that’s the last thing you wanna do to the field office while they’re in the middle of investigating a critical incident.”
Claiming he wanted “transparency” for the FBI and its actions, Patel said “nobody should criticize anybody but me if they have a problem with it.”
Speaking of the Boston Marathon bombing and Thompson murder, Patel added, “They happened in downtown metropolises with thousands of people around, and it still took them five days [to apprehend a suspect]. So if you have criticism, make a fair criticism and bring it to my feet, and I promise you the men and women of the FBI will respond, like they did for this manhunt.”
The under-fire Patel also lashed out on X on Monday. Responding to the Senate Judiciary Democrats’ X account calling out his “incompetence,” the FBI boss blasted, “If you’re going to come at me, use facts.”
He added, “All you have is disinformation and lies. I’ll see you, prime time in front of the world. America deserves a better brand of justice, and I’m giving it to them. BRING IT.”
Patel also took a combative approach when asked, in a separate Fox News appearance, about the criticism he’s faced over his social media activity.
During the probe, Patel wrote on X that the “subject for the horrific shooting… is now in custody,” before posting again less than two hours later to say the “subject in custody has been released.”
Patel said during an appearance on Fox & Friends, “Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment? Sure… But do I regret putting it out? Absolutely not.”
Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade claimed last Friday that the FBI seemed to be in “disarray” during the Kirk killer search.
“I don’t know if these guys are not getting along at the bureau level, but that’s probably why Dan Bongino and Kash Patel flew out, did their own investigation, and hold their own press conference,” Kilmeade said.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino also accused Fox News of “garbage reporting” for its story that he and Patel were set to be ousted from the bureau.
Citing 10 anonymous sources, the report said “knives are out” for Patel over the FBI’s handling of the search for Kirk’s killer.
Speaking on The Megyn Kelly Show, Bongino said, “Where are the knives? Who’s holding the knives? The knives are out?”
