FBI Director Kash Patel appeared on Fox & Friends Monday morning, providing new details about the investigation into the assassination of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk.
While being interviewed, Patel was asked by Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, “In the 24 hours after, when we were still
looking for the guy, I know you posted we got him, and then ended up not being true. You took incoming because of
that, what led to you posting that? Why did you feel so certain about it and what do you have to say about the criticism?”
Patel responded, “Look, as I stated, I was being transparent with working with the public on our findings as I had them. I stated in that message that we had a subject and that we were going to interview him, and we did, and he was released.”
He added, “The job of the FBI is not just to manhunt the actual suspect who did the killing. But also to eliminate targets and eliminate subjects who are not involved in the process.”
Kilmeade then asked a follow-up question, “Do you think that guy was part of the plot to distract you while the other suspect got away? Do you believe there could be any connection between the two people who stood up and acted erratically at that moment?”
Patel then revealed new information that “Some of these people were taking credit for this horrific act of violence even though they had nothing to do with it. Others were conducting what we call a daisy chain analysis. This is where the cell phone data dumps become so important.
WATCH:
JUST IN: Fox News Brian Kilmeade asked FBI Director whether the first subject detained served as a distraction for Charlie Kirk’s killer to get away pic.twitter.com/isi8lNoZIg
— The Triune Times (@TriuneTimes) September 15, 2025
The first “subject” who was later detained and released was identified as George Zinn.
WATCH:
Not confirmed yet but it appears as though the terrorist who shot Charlie Kirk is George Zinn. He has a previous charge for threatening to bomb the Salt Lake City Marathon back in 2013. https://t.co/A16ZU9Qyec pic.twitter.com/WEtoWeSEM6
— John Artunkal (@JohnArtunkal) September 10, 2025
Per The New York Post:
The elderly man detained after apparently falsely admitting to shooting Charlie Kirk is a known political agitator with a string of bizarre arrests dating back to the 1980s, according to reports.
George Zinn — the 71-year-old whom police hauled away in viral footage minutes after Kirk was shot at Utah Valley University on Wednesday — is known in local political circles as a strange man who frequently appears at events, and almost as frequently is tossed out.
“Almost every political event you can think of, there was always George somewhere in the background, listening,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill told the Salt Lake Tribune.
And Zinn has a habit of causing disruptions at those events with protests that are often nonsensical and have a dubious connection to his conservative and libertarian views.
“He’s a person who can be odd, and has those kinds of sometimes odd behavior challenges,” said Gill, whose office has prosecuted Zinn several times. “But by and large, he’s more of a gadfly than anything else.”
Earlier in the interview, Patel revealed that the accused assassin of Kirk had left a note.
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