FBI Director Kash Patel caused yet another strange moment in his hearing in the House on Wednesday, when he appeared to suggest that he couldn't release any information about President Donald Trump's attempted assassin Thomas Crooks until his trial was concluded — even though Crooks was killed at the scene by the Secret Service.
Crooks, 20, opened fire at Trump last year while he was holding a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, taking the shot from the rooftop of a nearby warehouse. Trump was grazed in the ear but was otherwise unharmed, while one other person at the rally, local volunteer fire chief Corey Comparatore, was killed.
"Can you commit to [release information on the case]?" Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) asked Patel during the hearing, to which he responded, "As soon as the trial's over."
This confused response, posted to X by CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane, drew a swift reaction from commenters on social media.
"What the hell?" wrote attorney Tracey Gallagher. "He was what a 'real' prosecutor and public defender you can't make this s--- up."
"Absolute clown show," wrote liberal podcaster Tony Michaels.
"Patel is so spectacularly unprepared for these hearings that as serious as they are, it's really kind of hysterical," wrote Wisconsin area combat veteran and trader Matthew Spira.
"How embarrassing," wrote actor Jim Wito. "Kash Patel doesn’t even realize they don’t hold trials for dead people. There will be no trial."
