Kash Patel blames Arizona cops for sidelining FBI in Nancy Guthrie abduction case

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News on May 5, 2026

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Kash Patel is blaming Arizona police for botching the Nancy Guthrie investigation.

The controversial FBI director claims that his agency was blocked from assisting the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for four days after the mother of NBC personality Savannah Guthrie was reported missing from her Tucson home on Feb. 1. Patel told Fox News host Sean Hannity that mattered because the first 48 hours of an abduction investigation are crucial.

“When we were finally let in, Sean, look what we did,” he said.

Among the very few pieces of evidence from Guthrie’s disappearance to have been made public are images of a masked man outside Guthrie’s home that were filmed by a doorbell camera. Patel said the FBI deserves credit for retrieving that footage once they got to work. He wonders if more video might have been found had his team started a few days earlier.

Patel also faulted local police for sending possible DNA evidence to a Florida laboratory rather than letting the FBI quickly examine it at their world-class crime lab in Quantico, Va.

“It’s a state and local matter, so it’s their call where to send the DNA,” Patel said. “They have jurisdiction, so it’s their call.”

Hannity said he’s frustrated with the status of Guthrie’s open case, which Patel conceded is understandable.

“What we can do is continue to offer support,” the FBI director said.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Patel’s lack of federal law enforcement experience was questioned prior to his confirmation hearing, where the U.S. Senate approved his nomination to become the FBI’s ninth director by the narrowest of margins. He was also portrayed as an absentee leader with a drinking problem in an April 17 report in The Atlantic that was met with a firm denial and an active $250 million lawsuit.

The White House has said the President remained confident in Patel’s abilities despite that report.

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