Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized FBI Director Kash Patel for sharing news of an arrest in the shooting of Charlie Kirk only to quickly retract and announce the person had been released.
“Director Patel again sparked mass confusion by incorrectly claiming on social media that the shooter was in custody, which He then had to walk back with another social media post. Mr. Patel was so anxious to take credit for funding Mr. Kirk’s assassin that he violated one of the basics of effective law enforcement at critical stages of investigation: shut up and let the professionals do their job,” Durbin said as Patel sat before him during a committee hearing.
Patel is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning, the first in a pair of back-to-back hearings that come as he’s under fire from the right for his handling of the investigation into Kirk’s killing and from the left for scores of firings at the FBI.
Hours after the fatal shooting at Utah Valley University on Wednesday and as authorities conducted a search for the suspect, Patel posted on the social platform X that a “subject” had been apprehended.
But less than two hours later, the FBI director said the person had been released — a clear signal the suspected shooter was still at large.
Patel said during an interview during “Fox and Friends” that he did not regret the update and did so out of transparency.
“I was being transparent with working with the public on our findings as I had them, I stated in that message that we had a subject and that we were going to interview him, and we did, and he was released,” Patel said Monday.
Patel went on to say the FBI is tasked with running down all leads while acknowledging he could have handled the update differently.
“Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment, sure. But do I regret putting it out? Absolutely not. I was telling the world what the FBI was doing as we were doing, and I’m continuing to do that. And I challenge anyone out there to find a director that has been more transparent,” Patel said.
