That’s in addition to questions about the handling of files from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, the addition of a co-deputy director to serve alongside Dan Bongino, and the use of polygraphs on some agents in recent months to identify sources of leaks. Republicans, meanwhile, are likely to rally to his defense or redirect the spotlight toward the bureau’s critics.

The hearings will offer Patel his most consequential stage yet, and perhaps the clearest test of whether he can convince the country that the FBI, under his watch, can avoid compounding its mistakes in a time of political violence and deepening distrust.

“Because of the skepticism that some members of the Senate have had and still have, it's extremely important that he perform very well at these oversight hearings” on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Gregory Brower, a former FBI executive who served as its top congressional affairs official.

The FBI declined to comment about Patel's coming testimony to the committee.

He claimed the subject was 'in custody'

Kirk's killing was always going to be a closely scrutinized investigation, not only because it was the latest burst of political violence inside the United States but also because of Kirk's friendships with Trump, Patel and other administration figures and allies.

While agents from Salt Lake City investigated, Patel's account on the social media platform X posted that “the subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said at a near-contemporaneous news conference that “Whoever did this, we will find you,” suggesting authorities were still searching. Patel soon after posted that the person in custody had been released.

“That does not deliver the message that you want the public to hear,” said Chris O'Leary, a retired FBI counterterrorism executive. “It had the opposite effect. People start to wonder what is going on. This looks like the Keystone Cops and it continues to get worse.”

The next day, a scheduled afternoon news conference was canceled for “rapid developments” as Patel and Bongino flew to Utah. It was held instead in the evening. Patel appeared but did not speak.

As the search stretched on for over a day, Patel angrily vented to FBI personnel Thursday about what he perceived as a failure to keep him informed, including that he was not quickly shown a photograph of the suspected shooter. That's according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press. The New York Times earlier reported details of the call.

Asked about the scrutiny of his performance, the FBI issued a statement saying that it had worked with local law enforcement to bring the suspected shooter, Tyler Robinson, to justice and “will continue to be transparent with the American people.”

Patel's overall response did not go unnoticed in conservative circles. One prominent strategist, Christopher Rufo, posted on X that it was “time for Republicans to assess whether Kash Patel is the right man to run the FBI.”

Patel, at a news conference Friday and again on social media Saturday, touted his oversight of the investigation, highlighting his decision to publicize photographs of Robinson as a key break in the investigation. Robinson’s father recognized him from the photos, setting off a chain of events that resulted in the son turning himself in.

Patel received support Saturday from Trump. He reposted on X a post from a Fox News Channel journalist who said she had spoken with Trump and that the president had said that Patel and the FBI “have done a great job.”

The personnel purge

On the same day Kirk was killed, Patel faced a separate problem: a lawsuit from three FBI senior executives fired in an August purge that wiped away decades of institutional experience and that they characterized as a Trump administration retribution campaign.

Among them was Brian Driscoll, who as acting FBI director in the early days of the Trump administration resisted Justice Department demands for names of agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Driscoll alleged in the lawsuit that he was let go following a clash with Patel over administration demands to fire an FBI pilot who had been wrongly identified on social media as the case agent in the classified documents investigation of Trump.

The lawsuit quotes Patel as having told Driscoll his job depended on firing people the White House wanted gone. The FBI has declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The other plaintiffs are Spencer Evans, a former top agent in Las Vegas whose termination letter cited a “lack of reasonableness and overzealousness” in implementing COVID-19 policies while serving as a human resources official — a claim his lawyers call false — and Steve Jensen, who helped oversee FBI investigations into the Jan. 6. Capitol riot.

The upheaval continues a trend that began even before Patel took over, when more than a half-dozen of the bureau's most senior executives were forced out under a Justice Department rationale that they could not be “trusted” to implement Trump's agenda.

There's since been significant turnover in leadership at the FBI's 55 field offices. Some left because of promotions and planned retirements, but others because of ultimatums to accept new assignments or resign. The head of the Salt Lake City office, an experienced counterterrorism investigator, was pushed out of her position weeks before Kirk was killed at a Utah college, said people familiar with the move.

In July, an agent based in Norfolk, Virginia, Michael Feinberg, authored a first-person account saying he was told to brace for a demotion and a polygraph exam because of his friendship with Peter Strzok , a lead FBI agent in the investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign fired over derogatory text messages sent about Trump. Feinberg resigned instead.

FBI's priorities shift under Patel

Patel arrived at the FBI having been a sharp critic of its leadership, including for investigations into Trump that he says politicized the institution. Under Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the FBI and Justice Department have become entangled in their own politically fraught inquiries, such as one into New York Attorney General Letitia James.

He's moved quickly to remake the bureau, with the FBI and Justice Department working to investigate one of the Republican president's chief grievances — the years-old Trump-Russia investigation. Trump has routinely called that probe, which did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump’s campaign, a “hoax" and “witch hunt."

The Justice Department appeared to confirm in an unusual statement that it was investigating former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, pivotal players in the Russia saga listed by Patel in a book he authored as “members of the Executive Branch Deep State,” but did not say for what. Bondi has directed that evidence be presented to a grand jury, and agents and prosecutors have begun requesting information and interviews from former officials related to the investigation, according to multiple people familiar with the outreach.

Critics of the fresh Russia inquiry consider it a transparent attempt to turn the page from the fierce backlash the FBI and Justice Department endured from elements of Trump's base following their July announcement that they would not be releasing any additional documents from the Epstein investigation.

Patel has meanwhile elevated the fight against street crime, drug trafficking and illegal immigration to the top of the FBI's agenda, in alignment with Trump's agenda.

The FBI has been key to the federal government's takeover of the Washington police department, participating with partner agencies in arrests for crimes, like drunken driving, not historically thought of as central FBI priorities.

The bureau makes no apologies for aggressive policing in American cities the Trump administration contends have been consumed by crime. Patel and Bongino have been promoting the number of arrests involving federal law enforcement in an initiative they dub Operation Summer Heat. Patel says the thousands of cumulative arrests, many of them immigration-related, are “what happens when you let good cops be good cops.”

But some are concerned the street crime focus could draw attention from the sophisticated public corruption and national security threats for which the bureau has long been primarily, if not solely, responsible for investigating. In one example, a federal corruption squad in Washington was disbanded this past spring.

“One of the big problems that I see is that the investigative programs that have been hurt the most this year are the ones that really only the FBI does, or the FBI does better than anybody else,” said Matt DeSarno, who retired in 2022 as head of the Dallas field office.

>>1436733
>Ladies and gentlemen. We got him
When L. Paul Bremer said that years ago, they made sure they got things exactly right before they made that statement
What's your excuse, Krash?

>>1436792
He was given the post to be a lockstep lackey for Trump. If he doesn't he gets deported back to India. And as incompetent as Trump is, his lackeys are worse, which is why they follow such a piece of shit.

When Trump said drain the swamp, he mean break the damn open so he and his cronies can flood America and devour it all.

>>1436808
Sold national parks to be exploited by companies, removed worker rights, lowered corporate taxes, pardoned cronies, backstabbing allies. I mean shit it has only been 9 months?

>>1436733
https://i.postimg.cc/G3gwzn18/daily-mail-kash-patel.jpg
When even the Daily Mail hate you this much, you know you've fucked up

>>1436866
Everyone knows Kash is completely unqualified for his job and shouldn't be in charge of a McDonalds much less the nation's top law enforcement organization. What happened with the botched press releases in this case (on twitter) is even more proof, as if we needed it.

>>1436733
They know if the guy's dad didn't turn him in, they would've never fucking found him.

>>1437041
Was the rifle stolen or something?

>>1436733
Patel just had a fucking fox interview where he said the guy's manifesto was somehow "destroyed" before the FBI could get it. Keep in mind: his family turned him in, his supposedly trans roommate had no idea what he did, and authorities have been all over it.

They either a. saw it had evidence he was a groyper or some shit and destroyed it, or b. fucked up and destroyed it while handling it. Take your pick.

>>1437070
>groyper narrative
Opinion discarded.

>>1436792
Kash being an idiot like this is nothing compared to Signal Gate or some of the other scandals this administration has already been involved with
No republican is going to care about this, they just want Civil War

>>1437075
Trump yesterday threatened to revoke funding to New York if Mamdani is elected. The president not only trying to openly interfere in a local election, but outright PUNISHING the state if they do not elect his chosen candidate. In a sane admin, this would be impeachable. Now it's just normal.

>>1437087
What actually happened
>Trump administration threatens to cut New York transit funds over safety
>The US Department of Transportation has given the Metropolitan Transit Authority 30 days to come up with a plan to address worker safety.

Are you dudes allergic to the truth?

>>1437107
>Are you dudes allergic to the truth?
We literally can't stop lying at this point.

>>1437107
>>1437119
>>Trump administration threatens to cut New York transit funds over safety
Yeah uh, check his truth social again
>https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115207991871277413
>Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has Endorsed the “Liddle’ Communist,” Zohran Mamdani, running for Mayor of New York. This is a rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City. How can such a thing happen? Washington will be watching this situation very closely. No reason to be sending good money after bad! President DJT

>>1437070
He also could have just not had a manifesto and since they couldn't find one just assumed it was destroyed.
With all the memes, his "manifesto" could be some esoteric collection of meme images in a mislabeled folder that no one except himself and his discord friends would even recognize as such.

>>1437169
They said they had a note from him in their possession. Either it was destroyed intentionally or through sheer incompetence.

Now I'd actually assume incompetence, because a cover-up would be invalided by him testifying towards motive at all, but it's still fucking embarrassing.

>>1437185
Unfortunately we have to trust fucking Congress to ask Kashyap about this. (Which they won't)

>>1437233
On the plus side, if you watch the session maybe you can behold the absolute authority of Elizabeth Warren acting like a retarded bitch about something.

>>1437238
Did the bullet to the head make her retarded or was she always like this?

>>1437241
How dare she ask questions!
>>1437241
You're confusing her with someone else.

https://i.postimg.cc/nVjZ6Wzs/groypers.jpg
>>1437070's facts accepted, your opinions go into the trash, >>1437072

>>1437087
>if Mamdani is elected
>>1437107
>>1437119
>>1437154
And yet, since that capital city started having Mayoral elections, the mainly white population of London voted for an unprecedented third time last year the Labour-supporting, devout Muslim but pro-LGBTQ+ rights Sadiq Khan. What's Trump going to do about that?
But then, Trump demanded a deal with Khan's friend Keir Starmer, so the MAGAts' orange god must like that Labour prime minister, thus that Mayor of London. So what's Trump's excuse for hating Zohran Mamdani?
And someone else that devout Muslim Mayor - voted in for a third time by mainly white Londoners - calls a friend is the Chief Rabbi of Britain Ephraim Mirvis, so enjoy your paradox, rightards. More so when your orange god loves Jews & Israel

>>1437289
>mainly white londoners

>>1437070
I'm getting flashbacks to Hunter's laptop.

>>1437330
Not a good analogy since the note didn't pass through Steve Bannon's and Rudy Guiliani's hands before the FBI ever saw it.

This is getting sort of ridiculously hilarious here.
Its obvious that Robinson isn't a violently political trans or leftist, otherwise they'd be releasing his statements and not relying on being vague or hiding behind anonymous sources.
They're desperate to tap this wellspring of utter hate against leftists, but they literally have nothing to go on.

How soon until Trump himself visits Robinson in his cell and pleads with him to chop off his dick so we can blame the killing on trannys?
Will Trump get MAGA to willingly and unironically swallow the largest glowie turd ever created?

>>1437233
Plus he’d just give a nonsense answer that wastes everyone’s time because that’s all these clowns know how to do

>>1437393
It's obvious you're delusional

>>1437321
>thinks London's population isn't mainly white
Well, the mainly white 1922 Committee & the MPs they represent chose a black woman to lead the mainly white Conservative party after a man of Indian ancestry was beaten by a white man via a 400+ seat majority due to a country's population of mostly white people voting in the election there last year, so you tell me

>>1437395
He's right you know