Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel was reportedly dining at New York’s popular restaurant Rao’s while posting on X about the Charlie Kirk’s murder suspect amid numerous former FBI officials slamming Patel’s approach towards the Kirk’s probe.
The Italian restaurant in East Harlem is difficult to get into, which begins its operations at 7 pm, NBC News reported.
At 6:21 pm ET, he posted “subject” in Charlie Kirk’s murder was “in custody”.
Patel put out another post on X at 7:59 pm, stating the “subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.”
A law enforcement official stated that the “horrific event” involving Kirk’s death highlighted Patel’s “public inability to meet the moment as a leader”, according to NBC news.
“What he did yesterday has never been done by any FBI director before him, or any division leadership before,” Reuters quoted retired FBI agent Dan Brunner who was referring to social media updates by Patel. He added, “The investigators need to sort through all the initial intelligence before putting out factual evidence. FBI does not run investigations on social media.”
A White House source, speaking on condition of anonymity, echoed Brunner’s remarks and told Reuters that Patel’s announcement was both unprofessional and unacceptable. The White House presented a contrasting view where Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the criticism of Patel “despicable” and stated that “everyone is supporting him and trying to be as helpful as possible during this effort, including the president of the United States”.
What did FBI say on posts Patel made when he was reportedly at restaurant?
When asked whether Patel was at the restaurant at the time he made a post about the investigation, and for a response to criticism directed at the director, the FBI issued a statement saying it “worked with our law enforcement partners in Utah to bring to justice the individual allegedly responsible for the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk, and we will continue to be transparent with the American people with real time updates as we are able.”
Meanwhile, Tyler Robinson, 22, a murder suspect into this case is in the custody, confirmed Utah Governor Spencer Cox. “We are confident we have the right individual in custody but we are still working to establish the full picture of who he is and why he acted,” BBC quoted a FBI spokesperson as saying.