FBI Director Kash Patel is heading into an intense week on Capitol Hill on the heels of the Charlie Kirk assassination, with two congressional hearings set to place his leadership under the national spotlight amid reports that he could be facing internal friction, despite continued support from President Donald Trump.
Criticism of Patel started last week after he announced on X that Kirk’s alleged killer had been captured before correcting himself in a separate post 90 minutes later. He then reportedly dined at a premier New York restaurant, Rao’s, on Wednesday night, though he was on his way to join federal investigators in Utah the next day, just hours before authorities would have the real suspect in custody.
Publicly, White House officials have repeatedly defended Patel since Kirk’s assassination on Wednesday, telling reporters that “anyone who doubts his resolve and dedication — especially when Charlie was such a close friend to him — simply is using this extremely sad moment in [a] disgusting act of political gamesmanship.” But behind the scenes, anonymous sources are raising more concerns, according to a Fox News report on Sunday that cited 10 unnamed sources, including one source who said senior officials “have no confidence in Kash.”
White House’s public comments defy reported internal debate on Kash
Following reports that multiple administration officials were unhappy with Patel’s management of the investigation, a source close to the White House downplayed that notion to the Washington Examiner, acknowledging on Thursday that officials were “annoyed” but had an overall willingness to give Patel grace.
In a separate comment, White House communications director Steven Cheung told the Washington Examiner that “Director Patel and his team worked night and day to find this murderer and bring him to justice.”
“The focus was on catching this killer, and he will face the full wrath of the justice system,” Cheung added.
Trump stood by Patel, golfing with him last weekend at the president’s Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, and Vice President JD Vance. During a Monday press conference in the Oval Office, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump heaped praise on Patel’s work in Memphis, Tennessee, as part of a mission to address urban crime.
“There’s a lot of questions about the investigation, where we are in the investigation. I want to be respectful to the FBI process, but just know that we are on top of this, and the entire administration is trying to do as much as possible to find everything that we can about what led to this,” Vance said Monday while paying tribute to his late friend as a guest host of the Charlie Kirk Show.
So too has Turning Point USA, with executive director Andrew Kolvet telling the Washington Examiner that the organization Kirk launched in 2012 was not drawing any preliminary conclusions or getting ahead of law enforcement.
“We’re watching. We’re waiting. We know Kash and [Deputy FBI Director] Dan [Bongino] are on it,” he said. “But here’s what we do know: is that he was radicalized by somebody or some people. Who were those people, and how did that happen? And was he a lone wolf, or did he act with other people? We still don’t know that as well, but we do know that there was advanced knowledge; it seems that he was going to do this. So there’s a lot of unanswered questions, and we want to get to the bottom of it, but we have every faith that this investigation is going to move forward rapidly, and they’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
When pressed on whether there were any frustrations, Kolvet added, “There are more rocks to turn over, but we know we need to give them room to do their jobs.”
Meanwhile, Patel has stood up for himself, making multiple appearances at press conferences and on television despite being advised otherwise.
“I was being transparent with working with the public on our findings as I had them,” Patel told Fox and Friends on Monday. “The job of the FBI is not just to manhunt the actual suspect who did the killing or suspects, but it’s also to eliminate targets and eliminate subjects who are not involved in the process. And that’s what we were doing. Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment? Sure. But do I regret putting it out? Absolutely not.”
“Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment? Sure. But do I regret putting it out? Absolutely not” — Kash Patel on his tweet falsely claiming “the subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody” pic.twitter.com/g6e74Io3zL
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 15, 2025
In response to whether the public criticism against Patel could spur leadership changes, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said that he would at least “advise [Patel] to be a little bit more cautious.”
“To come out and say on social media that you have a suspect in custody when you don’t, I mean, you can’t do that,” Rahmani said. He also noted that any extrajudicial discussions on live television about evidence related to Kirk’s murder, especially before any charges have been filed, could hamper progress on an otherwise “easy” case.
While Patel has been praised for how law enforcement got 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson into custody within 33 hours, multiple sources close to Trump told Fox News last weekend that the president was not happy about past incidents involving Patel, including his disagreement with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the administration’s promise to release files regarding Jeffrey Epstein.
An FBI source in the Trump administration criticized the Fox News report that cited 10 unnamed sources about internal frustrations with Patel, telling the Washington Examiner that “I’ve honestly never rolled my eyes harder than I did at that piece.”
But the speculation has run heavy in light of multiple prominent conservative critics raising frustrations over Patel’s messaging snafu last week, particularly as a new co-deputy director, former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, was sworn into FBI leadership on Monday. In a statement posted on X on Friday, Christopher Rufo, a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, wrote that it was “time for Republicans to assess whether Kash Patel is the right man to run the FBI.”
Bailey, who announced his new job last month, was previously a top contender for the position of FBI director before the inauguration, though Trump ultimately settled on Patel. A spokesperson for the bureau declined to comment on specifics as to Bailey’s role and his duties. Because Bailey begins his co-deputy director role this week, he would become eligible to fill the FBI director post after he has been employed at the bureau for at least 90 days, should a vacancy at the top arise, according to the terms of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
Patel to face grilling by congressional Democrats
Patel will come under official scrutiny by Democrats this week during two hearings before Congress, one before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and the other with its House counterpart on Wednesday. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) signaled that Democrats will use this week’s congressional hearings to question Patel over a wave of recent leadership purges that some lawmakers warn have undermined national security.
In a floor speech on Monday, Durbin singled out the removal of Mehtab Syed, the former special agent in charge of the Salt Lake City field office, who he said should have been leading the investigation into Kirk’s assassination. Instead, Syed was forced out this summer despite two decades of experience in counterterrorism and cyber operations. “She was a woman of color,” Durbin said. “They don’t fare well in the Trump administration.” Her ouster, along with at least eight other senior field officials, has contributed to what Durbin described as a “brain drain” under Patel’s tenure.
A tumultuous summer for Bongino looms over current internal complaints
Bongino was reportedly considering resigning in July over Bondi’s handling of the release of files related to Epstein. Both he and Patel pushed for the release of the Epstein-related documents during their time as conservative commentators in the months and years before they assumed their official duties this year.
Former White House spokesman Harrison Fields told the Washington Examiner at the time that the administration would reject any outside pressures to divide political appointees. “Any attempt to sow division within this team is baseless and distracts from the real progress being made in restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all,” he said.
Bondi also drew the ire of the MAGA community after she told Fox News in February that Epstein’s client list was “on her desk,” despite going on to release a two-page DOJ memo in July that stated the convicted sex offender did not have a client list. Although Bondi took criticism from devout Trump supporters, the administration has heaped praise on her job performance.
“President Trump is proud of Attorney General Bondi’s efforts to execute his Make America Safe Again agenda, restore the integrity of the Department of Justice, and bring justice to victims of crime,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Washington Examiner in a separate statement. “The continued fixation on sowing division in President Trump’s Cabinet is baseless and unfounded in reality.”
Bongino, who appeared on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom Monday just after Patel, addressed the ongoing criticism of the FBI’s handling of Kirk’s investigation, admitting that “it wasn’t perfect, but it should be.”
“I think it’s fair and appropriate for every one of the taxpayers who finances your FBI to ask questions about everything,” Bongino said, adding, “we can do better.”
TRUMP AND VANCE LEAD MOURNING AFTER CHARLIE KIRK KILLED IN UTAH
The prospect of a novel co-deputy role assigned to work alongside Bongino has only elevated rumors that he’s had enough of the job, after he expressed grievances over the role on live television in May. “People ask all the time, ‘Do you like it?’ No. I don’t,” he said in response to whether he enjoys his job.
Although flags are no longer flying at half-mast, Kirk’s assassination last week continues to loom over Trump as the president prepares to award the activist the Presidential Medal of Freedom.