FBI Director Kash Patel returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, where he told members of Congress that a sprawling network of individuals may have conspired to have Charlie Kirk killed.
Patel’s latest comments before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee built on his Fox News interview on Monday, when he alleged that more than 20 individuals may have participated in an online Discord chat where Tyler Robinson, 22, admitted to shooting Kirk. He told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) that the FBI is now investigating connections between Robinson and some of those individuals.
The Discord users and their families were contacted “immediately,” Patel explained, thereby preventing a chance for communiques or other evidence to be destroyed.
“We’ve conducted investigations and interrogations with local law enforcement, and we’re continuing to do that because those closest to the suspect are going to hopefully know the most about the suspect, his beliefs, and his ideology,” he said.
A leak within law enforcement revealed the existence of the Discord chat where Robinson allegedly confirmed he shot Kirk, 31, about two hours before surrendering to Utah authorities.
“Hey guys, I have bad news for you all,” read a message from an account on Discord that authorities believe belongs to Robinson.
“It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this.”
Patel told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that he believes others who listened to Robinson’s nefarious planning and did nothing may also be charged.
“There’s more than 20 individuals,” he said.
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Discovery of the gaming chat is a reversal for Discord, which previously stated that it found no proof that Kirk’s assassination was planned or discussed on its platform. Patel said the FBI has “served legal process” to the company in order to preserve records that may be later used in court.
“We’re also going to be investigating anyone and everyone involved in that Discord chat,” he confirmed.
Asked by Hawley if the chatroom contained “as many as 20” users, Patel replied, “It’s a lot more than that. We’re running them all down.”
Sources close to the FBI also confirmed that agents are racing to uncover the identity of social media users behind at least seven different accounts that appeared to express foreknowledge about Wednesday’s shooting of Kirk.
The posts, which referenced the Sep. 10 shooting of Kirk at a Utah college, occurred up to a month before the shooting, screenshots show. All were deleted within days after the murder.
Several of the accounts appear to belong to transgender individuals, and at least one of them followed Tyler Robinson’s roommate, who is also transgender and was in a romantic relationship with the 22-year-old suspect.
“itd be funny if someone like charlie kirk got shot on september 10th LMAO,” one account on X posted Sep. 3, seven days before Kirk was shot and killed.
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The night before the shooting, another TikTok user who appears to be transgender captioned a video “charles james kirk…does not know what’s coming tomorrow.”
“This isn’t a threat,” the individual added. “It’s a promise.”
