Cash Patel may have violated legal restrictions and the FBI’s disciplinary code for prematurely disclosing arrests in an alleged plot to attack an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout taking place this month at the White House, bureau veterans say.
The FBI director was accused of “jumping the gun” by posting details of five arrests on social media in an investigation conducted jointly with the Secret Service.
It subsequently emerged that the investigation had been closed by court order, theoretically limiting Patel from disclosing it publicly. Under US federal law, there is a general prohibition on disclosing information relating to closed cases while the order remains in effect. Although there are exceptions that allow disclosure of their contents, this will require formal permission from the court. Patel has previously cited court orders to suppress grand jury testimony as justification for the FBI’s failure to release many of its files on Jeffrey Epstein.
On June 16, two days after the White House cage match, Patel tweeted early in the morning that five men suspected of planning an attack on the event with drones and explosives had been “stopped” and praised the “swift actions of the FBI, our partners and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation.” But the problem, according to several law enforcement officials involved in the case, was that the investigation was still ongoing and agents were still actively searching for additional suspects at the time Patel shared his post.
“While the result represents the best of investigative work, it was also not unusual for this law enforcement team – we are designed to identify, respond and bring to justice those who threaten the lives of American citizens – especially during large gatherings such as the historic UFC 250 fight,” Patel wrote.
FBI insiders say the post is consistent with the director’s desire to learn details about investigations, which he can then post on social media. Lauren Anderson, who oversaw counterterrorism investigations in the U.S. and abroad during a 29-year career at the agency, said several current and former agents who met with Patel told her he was more focused on details he could reveal than on investigations and said they were pressured to pass on such information.
Patel’s penchant for premature publicity also undermined the FBI’s credibility with other law enforcement agencies it worked with, she said, including the Secret Service.
The UFC’s post drew implicit criticism from Matt Quinn, deputy director of the Secret Service, who, without naming Patel, told reporters: “I’ll tell you a phrase I learned early in my career in the New York office: ‘Don’t choke on your own smoke.’
“The Secret Service has been leading this investigation from the beginning,” Quinn continued. “I will tell you that the matter is ongoing. To maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan, we have decided not to release the information.”
Hours after Patel’s social media announcement, the Justice Department officially announced that it had arrested five men on suspicion of conspiring to “plan and carry out a mass casualty event.” Two other men were arrested and charged in the alleged conspiracy, according to the Justice Department.
But FBI veterans say Patel’s rushed revelations jeopardized the investigation and could undermine future prosecutions.
Anderson, whose FBI tenure included working under Robert Mueller as director, said Patel’s rush to publicize the arrests may have circumvented legal restrictions and internal FBI rules that, if violated, could trigger an investigation. Office of Professional Responsibility, a body within the bureau tasked with investigating misconduct and enforcing ethical standards.
“This (case) was classified, so there is a question about the legal possibility that the court will consider this violation of the classified order,” she said. “Theoretically, the court could impose sanctions. They could warrant contempt charges. This is a very serious thing.”
Other FBI employees, both junior and senior, who do the same would face serious internal consequences and potential legal sanctions, she said.
“If I had chosen to publish this information in any way, shape or form, let alone on social media, and share it with a local or state law enforcement officer who was not directly involved in this matter, it would have resulted in anything from a reprimand to a full investigation, which … could have resulted in my suspension (or) termination,” Anderson said.
In response, an FBI spokesman denied that the publicity had undermined the investigation. “Any suggestion that the investigation was compromised is completely false,” the official said. “Eight arrests have been made to date, the investigation is ongoing and no subjects or charges have been identified prior to release.”
Current senior agents said Patel pressured them during conference calls to reveal information about specific investigations, which he could then relay on social media, Anderson said.
“When he does want to intervene, he demands updates at a rate that is inconsistent with the ability to continue the investigation,” she said. “During these calls, he repeatedly said, ‘We have something to say on social media, let’s figure out what my tweet should look like,’ rather than focusing on significant developments in the investigation.
“This is what he most often wants to talk about, and his behavior and speech in these conversations borders on unprofessional.”
Patel, an ardent Trump supporter who has faced a litany of misconduct allegations since taking office (all of which he has denied), has previously come under fire for premature announcements on social media about people being taken into custody in connection with the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last September and for the deadly shooting at Brown University in December that left two people dead and nine injured.
In both cases, people initially detained were later released without charge. An hour and a half after the arrest of murder suspect Kirk was announced, Patel was forced to change his position, saying that the man had been released after questioning. Another man, Tyler Robinson, was later arrested and charged with the crime.
In the Brown University case, Patel said FBI agents detained a “person of interest” in connection with a campus shooting, but the next day a second person was shot and killed in Brookline, Massachusetts. The gunman responsible for both incidents, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 18 at a warehouse in Salem, New Hampshire, after police arrived to arrest him.
Patel responded to such criticism by citing his “transparency”.
Defending his original post about Kirk’s murder during an appearance on Fox & Friends, he said: “Can I phrase it a little better in the heat of the moment? Sure. But do I regret posting it? Absolutely not. I told the world what the FBI was doing, as we do, and continue to do so.”
He added: “I challenge everyone to find a director who is more transparent and more willing to work with the media on high-profile cases or any matter that the FBI is handling than we have been under my leadership.”
Patel was also convicted of publishing photographic evidence of the shooting at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Dallas last year.
Anderson said Patel’s premature statements, including making public the wrongful arrest, could undermine or jeopardize the prosecutor’s case.
“There are absolutely potential problems down the line, and it gives defense attorneys a lot more leeway to work with in terms of challenging the allegations and the allegations,” she said.
An FBI spokesman said bureau investigators and their partners caught Kirk’s alleged killer “in 33 hours… less than many other high-profile suspects,” citing the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing culprits as a comparison.
But Philip Field, a former FBI counterintelligence analyst who resigned after Patel’s confirmation last year, said the director’s desire for publicity runs counter to the low-key traditions of his predecessors – and life is at risk.
“Old big mouths sink ships – that’s the absolute warning he didn’t get,” he said. “One of the big dangers (of Patel’s premature statements) is that you have now created a false sense of security within the community, both the public and law enforcement, where some people will hear this and say, ‘Well, it’s safe to go out and resume your business.’
Comparing Patel, who had no agency experience prior to his confirmation, to previous directors, he continued: “The director can talk about what’s going on at the FBI (because) obviously it’s his organization, but there is an expectation that they will respect the investigation(s) and not compromise them.
“I worked on cases like ISIS (Islamic State) and al-Qaeda, but I will never be able to talk about most of the work I did at the FBI.”
Field noted that he would likely never be able to discuss many of the counterterrorism cases he worked on, including investigations of groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
“The people who actually do this work never get enough recognition. They accept it because they know what they do is important,” he said. “But Kash Patel doesn’t care. His goal is to look good.”