“What a palm over the face.” The head of the FBI, harshly criticized after the error made at the beginning of the investigation into the assassination of Charlie Kirk / the White House is abducted with the Reuters Agency
Kash Patel is facing the biggest challenge so far as director of the Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI), after current and former American officials have criticized the erroneous statement of this according to which the suspect in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a prominent alloy of President Donald Trump, was taken.
Shortly before the officials present at the scene of the shootings in Orem, Utah, to inform the press on Wednesday, Patel announced on social networks that the person responsible for the armed attack was in the custody of the police. This statement was quickly contradicted by local officials, which led to hours of confusion before FBI clarified that two people were interrogated and then released from the incident.
Current and former US officials have qualified Patel's ad as counterproductive.
“At the beginning of an investigation, a large part of the initial information is usually wrong or slightly erroneous. Therefore, what was done yesterday was never done by any FBI director before him, nor by another leader of a division,” said FBI retired agent Dan Brunner. “Investigators must analyze all the initial information before presenting concrete evidence … The FBI does not conduct investigations on social networks,” he said.
A source of the White House, to which the protection of anonymity was given to be able to give details about internal discussions, qualified Patel's ad as unprofessional and said that “his behavior is really unacceptable to the White House or the American public” and will be corrected.
John Cohen, former official of the Homeland Security Department – DHS), also said that Patel's ad “is unorthodox and could create confusion, because the details change rapidly.”
Leavitt: “A lower account from anonymous sources”
The White House said Patel has Trump's support and described the article of Reuters as “jogged”, “when a crazy criminal is still in freedom.”
“It is a lower report from anonymous sources that clearly tries to sow distrust in the president's team at a time of maximum unity,” the White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, told the news agency.
“Kash Patel leads the hunting to catch our friend's killer, and everyone supports him and tries to be as useful in this effort, including the President of the United States,” Leavitt added.
The FBI did not respond to the request to send a point of view.
The killing of Kirk, a prominent ally of Trump, at a college in Utah, in front of 3,000 people, is the latest incident of political violence in the United States.
Patel's first truly important test
The case represents the first great evidence for the director of the FBI, a loyalist of Trump who insisted on transforming the most prominent US law enforcement agency into an instrument of the “First America” Agenda of the Republican President.
Several agents, active or withdrawn, have said that they are worried that Patel's lack of experience in the field of law enforcement could prevent the progress of the investigation.
Under the leadership of Patel, the FBI agents, who usually deal with complex investigations, from corruption to national security, have been mobilized to investigate the president's political rivals and to follow the street offenses in Washington.
Patel fired dozens of FBI employees in the agency who are traditionally independent, employees who were considered insufficiently loyal to Trump. Three former FBI officials stated in a trial on Wednesday, a few hours before shooting, that Patel told them he was ordered to dismiss anyone who worked on a criminal investigation against Trump after his first mandate at the White House.
Among those dismissed are the former high -ranking FBI office in Salt Lake City, a office that now leads the Kirk's death investigation.
FBI Robert Bohls special agent, who now leads that office, said on Thursday morning in front of reporters that investigators have found several clues, including the rifle used in murder, but have not yet taken any suspect.
“What a slap on the face for Charlie Kirk”
On Thursday, FBI published two photos of the suspect searched during the investigation.
The agency also announced a $ 100,000 reward for information to arrest the suspect – an amount considered inadequate by Conservative activist Laura Loomer. “Honestly, it is embarrassing for the FBI and our country. What a slap for Charlie Kirk,” she wrote on social networks.
Before taking over the position of director of the FBI, Patel was a prominent critic of the agency, claiming that a “parallel state” of the government was persecuted on Trump. As a member of the Congress staff, he contributed to the leadership of an investigation into the 2016 FBI investigation on the contacts of the Trump campaign with Russia.
As director of the FBI, Patel has so far been a vocal supporter of Trump's agenda and appeared with him at social events-unlike the former leaders of the FBI, who traditionally presented as impartial professionals, independent of the whims of the White House.
He occasionally went into conflict with the administration. In May, Patel told the parliamentarians that Trump's proposed budget did not foresee sufficient FBI funds, then said the next day that he supported the planned discounts.
Patel was dismissed earlier this year in his other position, that of interim director of the Office for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive. The reason why he was dismissed and replaced with the Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was never clarified.
