FBI Director Kash Patel detailed on Monday the contents of a text message exchange between the suspected assassin of Charlie Kirk and a close friend. In the messages, the killer indicated he had a chance to “take out Charlie Kirk” and that he was “going to do it.”
During an interview on Fox & Friends, Patel spoke about the arrest of alleged assassin Tyler Robinson and said that it was one of the “shocking” things he’s discovered from the federal probe.Patel also revealed that DNA found on a screwdriver left on the roof of Utah Valley University and the towel wrapped around the weapon found near the site of the Kirk attack has matched Robinson.
“He had a text message exchange, he, the suspect with another individual in which he claimed that he had an opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and he was going to do it because of his hatred for what Charlie stood for,” Patel told Fox co-hosts Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt, and Lawrence Jones. “Those are factually accurate investigatory findings by the FBI that we have handed over to the local authorities and the federal authorities to make their prosecutorial decisions.”
Read some of the interview here:
KASH PATEL: I want to lay out how this works. People think we can just get in group chats and immediately find out who is in them. We the FBI are the investigation tore body supporting multiple prosecutions in ongoing investigations. That’s another point. Our investigation as the FBI is ongoing. There are scores of people in this discord chat room. But we have to effectuate legal process. We have to go out there with search warrants so that if prosecutors want to later use this evidence, it’s not tainted by being illegally obtained. We, the FBI, are running the investigation on the discord chat group. There are scores of individuals that are going to be spoken to. There are also lots of family members and friends that have already been spoken. To say one more point on forensics. We were able to obtain in record time the text message chain between the suspect and live-in partner as well as other critical cellar information from our task team that analyzes cell phone data towers in the area to pinpoint the locations of the suspect and other individuals he was speaking with. This is critical information that the FBI processed and got to prosecutors. So they can lawfully use it in a court of law. And our investigation, our interviews continue. We have learned some shocking things when we spoke to his family and friends as well.
BRIAN KILMEADE: Do you want to share them? Those shocking things?
PATEL: Sure. My job as FBI director is not to speak to motive. It’s to speak to the facts. And that’s what I’m going to do. His family has collectively told investigators that he subscribed to left wing ideology and even more so in these last couple of years. And he had a text message exchange, he, the suspect with another individual in which he claimed that he had an opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and he was going to do it because of his hatred for what Charlie stood for. Those are factually accurate investigatory findings by the FBI that we have handed over to the local authorities and the federal authorities to make their prosecutorial decisions. But I believe in thin stance of such public importance the public has a right to know. And I have told you I’m committed to transparency. And that’s what I’m doing here.
AINSLEY EARHARDT: Why didn’t that person that he was talking to, why didn’t that person say something?
PATEL: You know, our investigation is ongoing. That’s a great question. And we don’t have an answer on that just yet.
He added that DNA found on the towel the rifle was wrapped in, as well as a screwdriver found on the rooftop, matches that of the suspect. The gun, however, is still being processed by investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
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