FBI Director Kash Patel managed to suck up to President Trump during a nationally televised press conference, held to describe how the frantic search for Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer had reached its climax.
Tyler Robinson, 22, from Utah, was arrested after the attack that left a 31-year-old MAGA activist dead on Wednesday. He went on the run, but was arrested on Thursday at around 10 p.m.
As the country begged for details on the arrest, Patel’s first words were to praise Trump.
“I wanna express my deep gratitude to President Trump, the vice president, and the entire White House who have been so incredibly supportive with both resources and just personally to the FBI as a team,” he said.
“They had our backs the entire way. I just wanna express my gratitude for giving us the resources we need to operate in this space to bring this sort of justice at this sort of speed. In 33 hours, we have made historic progress for Charlie.”
Trump was first to confirm a suspect had been captured, revealing the shock development to Fox & Friends on Friday morning, shortly before the arrest was confirmed at a press conference in Utah.
“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him in custody,” Trump declared on Fox & Friends Friday morning, shortly before the arrest was confirmed at a press conference in Utah.
There, under fire Patel spoke to reporters and began with a brag. “This is what happens when you let good cops be cops.”
The cops and FBI agents did not find the suspect, however, he was apprehended when a friend of his family called local sheriffs to say that he had confessed.
Patel said the FBI and its partners are “proud” to bring justice to the Turning Point USA founder and his family. Patel, who lacks law enforcement experience, then genuflected to his boss.
The search for a suspect was not smooth. Patel’s first faux pas came when he told his 1.8 million X followers that officials had apprehended “the subject of the shooting,” before declaring that the individual had nothing to do with the attack.
The FBI later clarified that two people had been questioned and then released. One of them faintly resembled a 77-year-old retired banker in Toronto, Canada, who revealed he had been hounded online because of the apparent similarities.
The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement. Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency https://t.co/YXsG6YpFR5
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) September 10, 2025
“This was all shock and horror, first of all, that there’d been a shooting, but second of all that I was in any way named or implicated in it,” said Michael Mallinson, who has never even set foot in Utah. “I feel violated.”
Patel’s mishandling of the case has not gone unnoticed. “At the outset of an investigation, much of the initial intelligence is typically wrong or slightly off. That’s why what he did yesterday has never been done by any FBI director before him, or any division leadership before,” said retired FBI agent Dan Brunner. “The FBI does not run investigations on social media.”
A White House source told Reuters that the move to announce the arrest on social media was unprofessional, and added that “his performance is really not acceptable to the White House or the American public” and will be addressed.
Former Homeland Security Department official John Cohen was more conciliatory in his critique, calling the social media announcement “unorthodox.”
“It could be confusing in that details change quickly,” he added.
The FBI’s deputy director in the first Trump administration, Andrew McCabe, said he couldn’t understand why Patel saw fit to visit Utah during the hunt for the killer. “There are many good reasons why you wouldn’t go, if you’re the director, out to the scene of an ongoing post-crisis investigation,” McCabe told CNN Newsnight host Abby Phillip on Thursday.
He also questioned why Patel did not speak at Thursday’s press conference, which was instead led by the Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox.
“I’m a bit at a loss to understand what was the purpose of going out there,” he said.
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