FBI Director Kash Patel has said nothing in public since issuing a grave terror threat via X on Saturday, even though a suspected terror attack has since taken place.
Early on Saturday afternoon, “Keystone” Kash, as he is known for his bungling efforts at the head of the bureau, touched on the anxious atmosphere that has arisen as a result of President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran. He said he had instructed counterterrorism teams to be on “high alert.”
On Sunday evening, CNN’s Senior National Security reporter, Zachary Cohen, said that U.S. officials “have increased security at various government agency headquarters & other domestic locations that could be targeted in response to the operation in Iran,” citing a source.
Indeed, two people were killed and over a dozen were injured in a shooting outside a beer garden in Austin, Texas, at around 2 a.m. on Sunday. The suspect, a naturalised American citizen born in Senegal, was shot dead at the scene by police.
Sources told CBS News that the gunman was wearing a sweatshirt with the words “Property of Allah” on it, and local FBI officials said that evidence on the suspect and in his vehicle suggested a “nexus to terrorism.”
It is all the more strange, then, that there has been radio silence from Patel. He has made no statement on the attack, instead letting his subordinates in the Austin field office inform the public when a national statement might help to quell anxiety.
Patel has attracted criticism for his handling of several ongoing crises. A frantic FBI search continues for the mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie, and violence erupted in Mexico last week after the killing of a high-ranking cartel boss. The escalating conflict across the Middle East as a result of the administration’s double-team bombing campaign alongside Israel has heightened the focus on Patel.
Patel once again opted for questionable optics after Team USA’s gold medal victory over Canada in the Winter Olympics last Sunday. Patel, 46, led the celebrations, belting out chants and chugging beers with the players in the dressing room. The imagery rankled some, as the search for Nancy Guthrie was coming up cold, and Americans were sheltering in Mexico as bullets flew.
There were questions over whether taxpayers had funded an Italian knees-up for the hockey super-fan, but he insisted he was there on official business that just so happened to coincide with the 2-1 overtime victory against Canada.
He has also faced criticism for demanding that FBI resources be used to protect his girlfriend, 27-year-old country singer Alexis Wilkins, at an unprecedented level.
Supporters say he’s just a real dude, a down-to-earth guy who’s trying to show that he’s one of us. “I like my FBI director being a real person, I like the fact that he drinks a beer, I like the fact that he wants to celebrate with our gold medal hockey team,” said Jay Town, a U.S. attorney during Trump’s first administration.
But Trump himself is reportedly not too pleased. One source told The Wall Street Journal that the president privately questioned his locker-room performance at the Olympics, but was forced to back him in public.
The Daily Beast has approached the FBI to ask where Patel is and whether he intends to update the nation on the escalating conflict in the Middle East or the potential terror attack in Texas.
The post Keystone Kash MIA After Issuing Grave Terror Warning appeared first on The Daily Beast.
