On Saturday afternoon, as much of the country was learning about the deadly shooting at Brown University, Donald Trump used his social media platform to offer the public an update. The president wrote, “I have been briefed on the shooting that took place at Brown University in Rhode Island. The FBI is on the scene. The suspect is in custody.”
That wasn’t true. Many Americans learned long ago that the incumbent president is not a reliable source of information during major events, and this offered a timely reminder as to why: There was no suspect in custody, and as of this writing, the manhunt is still underway.
Two days later, at an unrelated White House event, Trump made matters noticeably worse. Asked whether FBI Director Kash Patel had told him why it’s been difficult to identify a suspect in the shooting, the Republican replied, “You’d really have to ask the school a little bit more about that because this was a school problem.”
Trump added, “They had their own guards. They had their own police. They had their own everything, but you’d have to ask that question really to the school, not to the FBI.”
Passing the buck here was tough to defend, although as it turns out, Trump wasn’t the only member of his team to respond to the deadly shooting in an unfortunate way. NBC News reported:
On Sunday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel posted a lengthy X message about the work the bureau had done to help detain someone he called ‘a person of interest in a hotel room in Coventry, RI, based off a lead by the [police department in Providence, Rhode Island].’
About 12 hours later, law enforcement officials released that person from custody, with Providence police pushing back on Patel’s earlier post. Police said the lead about the person of interest was ‘picked up by’ the FBI, not local authorities, as Patel had indicated.
The false information from bureau’s hapless director would’ve been easier to overlook if it had been a one-time slip-up.
But it wasn’t. In September, Patel, who’s long prioritized the spotlight over credibility, published false information to social media about the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, sparking a round of mockery for the former podcast personality.
A month later, Patel published an item to social media to alert the public to some startling news. “This morning the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend,” the director wrote, adding that there would be “more details to come.”
MS NOW reported soon after that senior Justice Department and FBI officials expressed frustration that Patel had “publicly disclosed an investigation into what he called a ‘potential’ Halloween weekend terrorist plot near Detroit — before investigators had a chance to flesh out key details, including whether the attack actually was imminent.”
The same report added that Justice Department officials “registered concern that Patel appeared to have acted hastily on the probe without Main Justice’s approval, with the apparent goal of seeking some credit for the FBI, but in a way that could interfere with the investigation.”
The circumstances prompted The New York Times to note, “Mr. Patel’s impulse to seize the spotlight and publicize the work of the bureau under his leadership has revived questions about his competence and his future in the administration. It has added to the growing criticism over his recreational travel, his use of a SWAT team to protect his girlfriend and his handling of the Epstein files.”
After Republicans confirmed Patel in February, he faced a challenge his predecessors did not: Because he lacked qualifications, relevant skills, knowledge, credibility and experience, he needed to invest real time and energy into proving his mettle, rolling up his sleeves and doing the work to earn a reputation as a serious and capable figure.
Months later, he’s done largely the opposite, careening through a series of avoidable missteps.
The latest of these incidents, in other words, was awful for Patel, but making matters worse is the degree to which few have been surprised by the latest evidence of his routine incompetence.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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