The Guthrie Gridlock
On Wednesday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel participated in a press conference at the Department of Justice alongside Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. The news conference was about the U.S. government announcing new charges and rewards for fugitives from a Mexican drug cartel. But toward the end of it, a reporter shouted a question about another topic: The abduction of Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy.
“Director Patel, any update on the Guthrie case?” the reporter asked as the DOJ officials started to walk off stage.
Patel didn’t bother answering. The FBI director—who was best known as a reliable face in right-wing media for pushing pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theories before his appointment as the country’s leading law-enforcement official—didn’t even slow his stride. Instead, Patel simply exited the stage with the rest of the DOJ officials.
It wasn’t the first time a prominent member of the Trump administration had been asked about the Guthrie case this week. In fact, on Monday, Trump himself was confronted with a question on the very subject. Trump pointed to the Arizona authorities and said that “the local community really runs those things,” deflecting blame from Patel’s FBI, though the president conceded “they are involved to an extent.”
The statements—or in Patel’s case, lack thereof—haven’t exactly inspired confidence that authorities are hard at work marshaling the enormous resources of the government to bring the case to a resolution. As a result, behind the scenes, I’m told that…
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