Kash Patel Reportedly Dined at Fancy NYC Restaurant Hours After Charlie Kirk’s Killing
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
FBI Director Kash Patel dined at a swanky New York eatery on Wednesday night, hours after Charlie Kirk was gunned down, according to NBC News.
Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University when he was shot and killed on Wednesday afternoon. Police have arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson in connection with the murder.
On Wednesday at 6:21 E.T., Patel said on social media that the “subject” in the shooting was “in custody.” However, at 7:59 ET, the director walked back that claim and said the subject had been released.
Reporter Ryan J. Reilly of NBC News said that around the time Patel was posting, the director dined at Rao’s on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
“FBI Director Kash Patel was dining at Rao’s in New York on Wednesday night after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, two sources familiar with his whereabouts told NBC News,” Reilly reported. “Rao’s, a well-known restaurant that is notoriously tough to get into, opens at 7 p.m.”
Reilly said the FBI did not confirm his reporting and that Rao’s declined to comment.
On Thursday, Patel reportedly berated his agents working the Kirk case.
“The director wasted no time before calling out subordinates that he said failed to give him timely information and was incensed that agents in Salt Lake City waited nearly 12 hours to show him a photo of the suspected killer, according to three people familiar on the exchange,” reported The New York Times.
Patel has faced fierce criticism over his handling of the case, including from the right.
“I’m not seeing the great law enforcement work and I’m not, you know, saying there’s not great law enforcement. They all came together, I got that, but this was not through law enforcement work,” said Steve Bannon on Friday.
Meanwhile, Mediaite founder Dan Abrams said Patel” is in way over his head.”
“No other FBI director would have done that,” Abrams said of Patel’s premature announcement that a subject was in custody on Wednesday. “It is clear Kash Patel is in way over his head. He is not up to the job of FBI director… This is not a critique of law enforcement. This is a critique of Kash Patel as head of the FBI.”
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe stated that he did not understand why Patel personally traveled to Utah.
“One of the reasons not to do that is because the presence of the director imposes a huge burden on the field office,” McCabe explained. “There’s all kinds of arrangements that have to be made. There’s all kinds of security concerns that arise. Transportation becomes very complicated. And that’s the last thing you wanna do to the field office while they’re in the middle of investigating a critical incident.”
