Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard had a simmering tension over Charlie Kirk murder investigation, NYT reported.
FBI director Kash Patel was reportedly alarmed when someone who reports to DNI Tulsi Gabbard examined FBI case files on the Charlie Kirk shooting. Patel and other FBI officials believed that Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center was overstepping. This created a simmering tension between Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, as reported by the New York Times. But FBI sources pushed back on such claims and dismissed them as rumors. Joe Kent was reportedly looking for any information that ties Charlie Kirk’s assassination to any foreign group — like conspiracy theorist Candace Owens suggested — or any terror groups. Kent had a meeting with Patel, who was not happy with Kent’s digging, at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and DNI Tulsi Gabbard being present. The NYT report claimed that Kash Patel was troubled that Kent had gone through FBI materials regarding the case.Tyler Robinson was arrested on the charge of killing Charlie Kirk and FBI said he acted alone. The investigators produced his texts as evidence but many Conservative activists refuse to believe that Charlie Kirk’s assassination was a one-man job, given Kirk’s political importance. The NYT report said the tension between Patel’s office and Gabbard’s office was so intense that two meetings had to be held and little was achieved in the first meeting. “The FBI and the Justice Department generally keep tight control over evidence in criminal cases, particularly when they are preparing for a trial, in which government documents may have to be turned over to the defense and could be used to poke holes in the prosecution’s case,” the NYT report said. Fox News reported that there was no feud and the report was exaggerated; both departments want justice for Charlie Kirk.Tyler Robinson, the accused of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, has not pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said that they intend to seek the death penalty under Utah law because of the aggravating circumstances.
