By Sharon Zhang
Copyright truthout
In a hearing on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel appeared to not know of infamous mass shooter Dylann Roof, who murdered nine people at a historic Black church in 2015 in one of the deadliest white supremacist massacres in modern U.S. history.
During a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Illinois) questioned Patel on several mass murders committed by people with extremist right-wing beliefs. She said her questions aren’t meant as a “gotcha,” just as simple statements.
“Dylann Roof, who followed white supremacist propaganda, murdered nine Black parishioners in Charleston in 2015. Do you deny this?” Kamlager-Dove asked.
“I’m sorry, Dylann Roof?” Patel said. “Can you give me some more information?”
“You’re the head of the FBI, you probably know this,” Kamlager-Dove said.
“Can you give me a reminder? I’ve got a lot in front of me,” Patel responded.
“It was national news,” Kamlager-Dove said. She went on to ask about neo-Nazi Robert Bowers, who attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, killing 11 congregants. “Do you admit that that happened?” she asked.
“I’m not saying the other thing didn’t happen, I’m just asking for a little information,” Patel said, referring to Roof again.
Kamlager-Dove then asked about the 2019 massacre in a Walmart in a Latine neighborhood in El Paso, Texas, in which 23 people were shot and killed by Patrick Crusius, who followed white supremacist ideology and railed about the “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Patel appeared to be unfamiliar with this shooting as well. Asked Kamlager-Dove: “Do you admit or deny that that [shooting] happened?”
“I’ll take your presentation as accurate,” Patel said.
Kamlager-Dove said her line of questioning was a follow up to Patel’s claim that extremists on both the left and right commit acts of violence — a claim that is misleading at best, with research consistently finding the majority of ideologically-motivated violence is committed by right-wingers. (Patel’s claim came shortly after the Justice Department quietly removed a study from its website showing that far right attacks outpace all other types of domestic violent extremism.)
Patel’s hearing was full of other embarrassing moments and flubs from the man in charge of one of the most powerful law enforcement agencies in the U.S. At one point, for instance, Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt (Texas) asked if Patel would commit to releasing more information about Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump. In response, Patel said, “as soon as the trial is over.”
However, there is no trial for Crooks. He was killed by law enforcement shortly after shooting at Trump.
