Kash Patel commits grave mistake after latest tragedy - Brian Tyler Cohen

Legal Breakdown episode 640: Kash Patel publicly posts incorrect information after shooting.

BTC: You're watching the legal breakdown,
Glenn. It looks like Kash Patel did it
yet again. We just watched him post
before he had all the information about
the Brown University shooting, about the
suspect who was apprehended. It
ultimately turned out not to be the
suspect in this shooting. Uh he did it
in during the Charlie Kirk shooting
where he wanted to go on Twitter, wanted
to get all all the praise for acting
quickly, and the person who he tweeted
about during that shooting also
ultimately ended up not being the person
uh who had committed this crime. I'm
going to put right here on the screen uh
Cash Mattel's tweet. He wrote in part,
"Early this morning, FBI Boston's safe
streets task force with assistance from
the US Marshals and Coventry, Rhode
Island Police Department detained a
person of interest in a hotel room in
Coventry, Rhode Island." So, first and
foremost, what are the implications of
having an FBI director who just can't
stop but fall over himself to try and
tweet out information before it's
thoroughly vetted?

GK: You know, Brian,
first of all, nobody can ever accuse
Kash Patel of learning from his
mistakes. As you point out, he made the
same, you know, boneheaded decision to
prematurely put out what proved to be
wrong information in the Charlie Kirk
case. And now he's gone and done it
again. And let me tell you, when I read
his post, Brian, you know, this is like
a study. This is like law enforcement
101 of what not to do. And I'll talk in
a minute about how it could negatively
implicate the case in the event Kash
Patel eventually gets it right and um
and apprehends the actual uh Brown
University killer in this case. But what
I want to do is just turn to the three
things that he said in this post and
then explain to our audience why it is
that none of these things should have
been posted, never mind, by the director
of the FBI. The first thing he posts is
FBI Boston established a command post to
intake, develop, and analyze leads and
run them to ground. First of all, what
he says there is law enforcement is
doing what law enforcement does, which
is really not something you have to take
the time to to post to people other than
just to put on a big splashy show. You
know, he really can't shake the fact
that he used to be a podcaster and it
really didn't matter what he spewed into
the public square. Here's the second
thing. We activated the FBI's cellular
analysis survey team to provide critical
geolocation capabilities. What does
that do, Brian? That signals to the bad
guy, oh, let me dump my phone. Right?
Because now that he is actually sharing
sources and methods and law enforcement
activities while the investigation is
ongoing, the only thing he has succeeded
in doing is tipping off the bad guy and
making himself look like a buffoon in
the process. And here's the third thing
he posted. As a result, early this
morning, FBI Boston's Safe Streets Task
Force with the assistance from the US
Marshall Service and Coventry, Rhode
Island Police Department, detained a
person of interest in a hotel room in
Coventry, Rhode Island, based off a lead
provided by Rhode Island RIPD.
What What are we doing there? What are
we seeing there? He's disclosing
information about where the person he
believed to be the shooter was located
is located um and what's actually going
on at this moment in the investigation.
First of all, the uh the public, the
people don't need this information. They
have no right to this information and
they shouldn't have this information.
Why? Because what this does is it kind
of poisons the public. Well, and now
somebody might say, "Oh, you know what?
Um, I want to take advantage of
potential reward money, so I'm going to
say that I saw the killer go to that
motel in Coventry, Rhode Island." Yeah,
that's it. Because now I know that
that's where they are interviewing a
suspect. You're providing evidence about
an ongoing investigation to the public,
which I say they don't have a right to
know and they shouldn't know. And here
is how this could impact the
investigation and the prosecution moving
forward. When you arrest the wrong
person or you announce you have somebody
in custody who's a person of interest,
which obviously sends the signal that
we've got the killer. You know what
you've just done? you and it turns out
to be the wrong guy. You've made the
prosecution's case much harder and you
have given ammunition to the defendant
and his attorneys when they ultimately
go to trial because what this does is it
creates actual evidence of what we call
a third-party perpetrator defense. The
FBI director said in essence in
substance, "We've got our man. We've
We're wearing them out in a motel right
now in Coventry, Rhode Island. That is
evidence that And now we know he got it
wrong. At least that's what the reports
are. Uh uh just disregard everything I
just posted. My bad. That was the wrong
guy. that gives actual evidence to to
the to the shooter, the person who if
ultimately apprehended and put on trial,
will be able to use those statements,
use that evidence as a third party
perpetrator defense and argue, ladies
and gentlemen, there's no way in the
world a responsible FBI director would
have put that information out publicly
if he wasn't damn sure he had the right
guy in that motel. And guess what? that
guy, not my client who's on trial here
today. And that's just one reason you
should have reasonable doubt and you
should find my client not guilty. This
is like stupidity writ large. It is
incompetence writ large and it is a
refusal to learn from one's mistakes.
None of this recommends Cash Patel to
continue in the job of director of the
FBI.

BTC: Doesn't it also put the public at
risk because now your guard is down
because you think that the actual
perpetrator of these crimes, the actual
killer here has been apprehended and so
suddenly, you know, you can let your
kids go back outside. Everybody can can
kind of take a take a, you know, breathe
a sigh of relief here. No. And all the
while have no idea that the perpetrator,
the killer, the shooter may just be
right in front of their faces.

GK: That's another downside of Cash Patel
prematurely spewing this nonsense into
the public square, especially when it
turns out that it's wrong. You know,
there are so many reasons that this is
not something we've ever seen a director
of the FBI do previously. You know, most
of them had, you know, some sense of how
to go about running what used to be and
I think still is ultimately the nation's
pre-eminent law enforcement agency. you
know, but for the fact that the
leadership right now, Cash Patel, Don
Bongino, they they just don't have any
business being in those positions.


BTC: Yeah. In in terms of what the fallout
could be, I mean, look, the reality is
that that the people who are at top of
the leadership for these law enforcement
agencies are there not because they're
qualified for their jobs, not because
they're competent, but because they're
going to show blind deference and
loyalty to Donald Trump. And so in terms
of consequences or fallout, do you
anticipate that there's going to be any
or so long as they continue graveling at
Trump's feet? You know, it's uh that's
just that's just how it is in today's uh
DOJ, FBI, and on and on.

GK: Yeah, Brian, that's kind of a coin toss because
in the first Trump administration, when a
cabinet official would, you know, make
Trump look bad when he he or she would
receive all kinds of criticism for the
way they were bungling the the
responsibilities they had in whatever
their, you know, cabinet job happened to
be, he would throw them under the bus in
a minute. So even though he would want
to bring unqualified lap dogs into the
job, um he didn't want them to embarrass
him and this now as you pointed out at
the top with with Cash Patel doing it
twice and not learning from his mistake
the first time. I mean this makes Donald
Trump and his administration look, you
know, lower than whale on the
competence front. So it wouldn't shock
me if maybe the second time is is too
much for Donald Trump to endure and he
gets rid of Cash Patel. And then of
course who in the world he will tap to
replace him is anybody's guess. And you
know but sometimes you know we say the
devil we know is better than the devil
we don't know when the devil we know
when it's Cash Patel who is putting you
know law enforcement at risk. He's
putting the public at risk. He's giving
actual dangerous folk who commit crimes
built-in defenses that they wouldn't
otherwise have if he wasn't such an
incompetent and imbecile. You know,
sometimes I think we have to take our
chances on the next devil.

BTC: You know, I think the I hear everything
you're saying, but I think perhaps a
bigger problem for Trump would be um in
some roundabout way conceding fault here
by admitting that Cash Patel had done
something wrong and so he had to fire
him. I think a bigger priority for Trump
is pretending that everybody around him
is perfect and that he made the perfect
decision by appointing all of these
people to their positions. And so in an
effort not to seem like he's done
something wrong, in an effort not to
show some semblance of weakness by
saying, "Okay, this was a mistake or
appointing Cash Patel was a mistake." I
think he's just going to double down and
say, you know, strength in my
administration looks like never
admitting fault, even when it's so
apparent, even when Cash Patel continues
to fuck up time and time and time again.
And so there's a big part of me that
thinks that that especially in these
moments where somebody in his
administration uh drops the ball is when
he's going to not do anything expressly
so that people don't think that he's
weak by virtue of, you know, firing them
and and as a result kind of
inadvertently admitting fault.


GK: Yeah. So I want to talk about the other
side of that coin. I agree with you.
That's one, you know, perspective. And
Donald Trump is known to double and
triple down on his own bad decisions and
poor choices. Um, but first of all, he
fired cabinet members in his first
administration. And then what did he do?
He tended to blame the pick, not on
himself cuz even though he was the final
decision maker, he would blame it on
somebody else. There is sort of a
similar experience that we're seeing
right now in the second administration
where all of these Trump appointed
judges are ruling against Donald Trump.
So what does Donald Trump do? Well, it
was the Federalist Society who really
picked those judges and I don't, you
know, I just agreed with the picks that
they, you know, they forwarded to me.
Again, he will, the buck never stops
with Donald Trump. He will always point
fingers. So if he ends up getting rid of
Cash Patel, it won't be because he made
the wrong decision. It will be like,
well, you know, Cash Patel, I think I
I'm familiar with him. He he he was a
coffee boy, but you know, other people
said I should make him the director of
the FBI, so I did. and and you know
what? They gave me bad advice. This is
his MMO.

BTC: Yeah, 100%. I mean, both of those
scenarios, I think, are perfectly
feasible. It's just depends on, frankly,
how he's feeling that day and and
honestly, the last person to get in his
ear because who whatever he spouts is
usually the result of that. It's worth
asking here, is there any impact that
the other prosecutors in the FBI can
have? I mean, clearly they know better.
It's Cash Patel, who's the newcomer
here. It's Cash Patel who's the showboat
here who just can't, you know, rid
himself of this of of this uh Trumpian
um uh uh tactic where he just has to,
you know, very quickly gain garner all
of the uh the credit and praise for
himself. But what are the prosecutors in
the FBI, the rank and file, the
attorneys who work there, what are they
thinking or doing as a result of this?

GK: Probably shaking their head in despair
and going home and drinking. I I don't
mean to make light, but there is a
general counsel's office and I have
known some of the FBI general counsel
over time and they're there to give kind
of real time legal advice to try to keep
the director of the FBI and other FBI
leadership out of hot water,
investigative hot water, legal hot
water, and to try to make sure that
they're not damaging the prospect of a
successful arrest in the first instance
and then ultimately a successful
prosecution. So I am sure they have been
trying to give Cash Patel their best
advice on legal matters in the event
Cash Patel is including them and not
cutting them out when it comes to sort
of the legal ins and outs of the way
they're going about their operations and
their investigations. And you know, I'm
sure that the the good honest people who
remain in the FBI, just like the good
honest people uh the good career public
servants who remain in the Department of
Justice, and of course the FBI is a
component within the Department of
Justice. I am sure they're beside
themselves. I I I have a feeling they're
probably trying to, you know, revisit
the decision daily as to whether they
should stay and try to be guard rails or
whether, you know, they can no longer
buy in to being a part of an
administration run by the likes of Trump
and Pam Bondi and Cash Patel. Um because
you know it would be from my perspective
as a 30-year Fed, it would be really
hard for me to labor under that kind of
leadership with the word leadership in
air quotes if I knew they were doing the
wrong thing every day and they weren't
even willing to take my advice about how
to go about doing things the right way.
I mean that is really a lot for a
federal government employee, a good
hardworking uh prosecutor or FBI agent
who understands that they are there to
represent the interests of the American
people, not dear leader in the Oval
Office. It would be a really hard pill
to swallow coming into work every day
and having to contend with that.

BTC: Well, look, I I something tells me that
this is not the last time that Cash
Patel is going to do exactly what he's
done here and exactly what he did in the
aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
So obviously a lot more to come on this,
whether it's Cash Patel's actions or
how this case plays itself out given
Cash Patel's incompetence at play. For
those who are watching, if you'd like to
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Brian Taylor Cohen...

GK: ...and I'm Glenn Kirschner.

BTC: You're watching the Legal Breakdown.