A Michigan-based lawyer has accused FBI Director Kash Patel of boasting about preventing a nonexistent terror attack.
Patel eagerly posted on X the morning of Oct. 31 the FBI had “thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects,” in Michigan, adding in a follow-up post that a “violent plot tied to international terrorism was disrupted.”
Amir Makled, a defense attorney representing a 20-year-old man detained along with four other young adult males and minors on suspicion of planning an Islamic State-inspired attack over the Halloween weekend, disputes the claim. He says the suspects, believed to be gamers aged 16 to 20, were not actually plotting an attack while talking in online chat rooms, and that federal authorities have provided him with few details about the investigation.
“I don’t know where this hysteria and this fearmongering came from,” Makled told the Associated Press.
“If these young men were on forums that they should not have been on or things of that nature, then we’ll have to wait and see,” he added. “But I don’t believe there’s anything illegal about any of the activity they were doing.”
Patel’s terror plot claim arrived as he faces intense scrutiny over his performance as FBI director, including allegations that he used a taxpayer-funded government jet to travel to see his girlfriend perform at a wrestling event.
In September, Patel, a former MAGA podcaster, was condemned for excitedly posting on X that officials had apprehended a suspect wanted for the shooting of Charlie Kirk in Utah before later admitting the individual had nothing to do with the attack.
No suspect has been charged in connection with the alleged Michigan Halloween plot, with federal authorities still offering only scant details.
Unnamed sources told the AP that the probe centers on a chat room involving at least some of the suspects, where they are alleged to have discussed carrying out an attack around Halloween, which they referred to as “pumpkin day.”
Attorney Hussein Bazzi, who represents a 19-year-old man whose Dearborn home was searched by FBI agents on Oct. 31, also criticized Patel’s claims of averting a terror attack.
“There is no credible evidence that any so-called mass casualty event was ever planned, discussed, or intended,” Bazzi told The Detroit News. “No such plot existed.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, are said to have been frustrated with Patel for posting about the supposed terror plot before details of the case were confirmed, according to MSNBC.
Ken Dilanian, MSNBC’s justice and intelligence correspondent, added on X that senior FBI officials were also unhappy with Patel for disclosing the Michigan investigation to his 1.9 million X followers before a criminal complaint had been filed and while key details were still unclear.
“These were young people radicalized online, we are told,” Dilanian posted. “Just how capable they were or how imminent this was remains to be seen.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the FBI and the Department of Justice for comment.
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