A former high-ranking FBI official criticized President Donald Trump's choice to lead the bureau Monday — and slammed his handling of the Charlie Kirk killing.
The 22-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting was arrested after a family member turned him in, and FBI Director Kash Patel has been revealing evidence in the case on Fox News as he defends the investigation. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told "CNN This Morning" that his approach stands out as unusual.
"I guess preliminarily whatstands out to me is how much we know at this point," McCabe said. "It'sreally remarkable in the middle of an ongoing investigationof such momentous importance forthe country. It's odd andunconventional that there havebeen this many releases ofinformation, particularly fromthe FBI director, butessentially the basics of thiscase are very, very solid."
"Youhave an individual who waspretty clearly identified onfleeing the scene from thosevideos that we've all seen," he added. "You've got the murder weaponhas been recovered. The towelthat the murder weapon waswrapped in and a screwdriverfound with the murder weapon.Both bear the DNA of the subjectin custody, and now, of course,we've learned of this messagethat he apparently delivered inthis very short period of timeafter being confronted by hisfamily and right before beingbrought to law enforcement, heapparently got on his computerand sent a message to hisfriends on theapplication Discord and senta message that essentiallyconfesses to the crime. So thecase seems very, very strong atthis point."
But despite the solidity of the evidence, McCabe said Patel was making blunders that could weaken the case at trial.
"Thereshouldn't be a real differencebetween how [Attorney General] Pam Bondi and Kash Patel are handling thosequestions," he said. "I think Pam Bondi isdoing it the right way. Thedifference in what we're seeinghere from what we normallyexperience in mass shootings isthat this case has to go to aprosecution. We have a subjectin custody. The state of Utah,and possibly later the federalgovernment, are preparing tobring cases to trial.
"So in thatsituation, you don't want toexpose evidence outside of thecontext of the evidence you needto put forth in the indictmentto receive the indictment. Now,we're going to see later todaywhen he is officially charged incourt, what evidence theprosecutors decide to reveal inthe course of that legalfiling. But typically you neverdiscuss the evidence. You don'twant to put anything injeopardy."
"You don't want to givethe defense a preview of yourevidence before the trial, andyou don't want to put thisperson on trial in the public," McCabe added. "It's a violation of their dueprocess rights and can reallycause you problems down theroad. In a typical mass shootingcase where the mass shootercommits suicide or is killed bylaw enforcement in or aroundthe shooting, you don't havethose same concerns becauseobviously there's no prosecutionto follow."