FBI Director Kash Patel was accused Sunday of “reckless” conspiracy-mongering in his tribute to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Graham’s death at age 71 in Washington, D.C., was announced by his office on Saturday, and the cause was later determined to be an aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease ― essentially a tear in the body’s main artery, his representatives said the following day.
Before his death, Graham visited Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.
In his farewell to the four-term senator, Patel praised him as “a fierce defender of our nation, and a true patriot ” before veering into eyebrow-raising territory.
“The FBI is assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available,” Patel wrote on X.
Graham’s death after a trip to a war-torn area was already birthing conspiracy theories by far-right figures such as Laura Loomer, but Patel’s “idiotic tweet” will provide “rocket fuel” to them, former Barack Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer wrote on X.
“A genuinely reckless end of this tweet,” former HuffPoster Sam Stein of The Bulwark declared.
Left-leaning Meidas Touch called it a “very odd tweet from the FBI director apparently posted to stoke conspiracy theories for Twitter likes” while former Kamala Harris adviser Mike Nellis branded him an “attention whore.”
The FBI told HuffPost in an email on Monday that it had “nothing to add to the Director’s social media post from over the weekend.”
Patel has reportedly been getting under the skin of Trump officials for several actions, which the director denies.
Here are other replies from critics.
