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Kash Patel Addresses Conspiracy Theories at Press Conference
During a press conference hosted by President Trump, FBI Director Kash Patel was asked to address the numerous conspiracy theories circulating on social media about the Charlie Kirk assassination. His response focused on facts over speculation, emphasizing that the FBI delivered a successful manhunt, capturing alleged assassin Tyler Robinson in 33 hours, compared to the five days it took to apprehend Luigi Mangione in the Boston case, which also resulted in the death of a police officer.
Patel stated that the FBI and Department of Justice deal only with facts and are running out every single lead. He emphasized that the best way to honor Charlie Kirk's life is to ensure everyone involved is prosecuted to the full extent of the law, focusing on investigating facts rather than trading in conspiracy theories.
However, this response raised concerns among those seeking truth and transparency. The focus on speed rather than thoroughness troubled many Americans who care less about how quickly Tyler Robinson was captured and more about whether the investigation is comprehensive and accurate.
Questions About Acting Alone and Public Trust
When asked whether other people might have been involved in the assassination, Patel indicated that the FBI is looking at everyone who was there and online, with plans to refer matters to state prosecution authorities when sufficient evidence exists. He expressed frustration with what he called hysterical conspiracy theories filling the void on social media, arguing that such theories harm Charlie Kirk, his family, and the rightful prosecution of his alleged assassin.
Patel challenged the notion that the FBI would allow anyone who helped Robinson to get away with it, suggesting that remaining silent in the face of growing conspiracy theories would shut down a fair prosecution and exploit the justice system. He stated that anarchists are bringing these theories to social media for clickbait, and the FBI will not be deterred by criticism of him, Dan Bongino, or anyone else in FBI leadership.
The problem with this approach is that remaining silent about growing questions and concerns does nothing to increase public trust in the FBI. Silence and lack of answers has been the status quo for too long, and Americans elected this administration with excitement about Kash Patel and Dan Bongino specifically because they expected openness and transparency about what the government has been doing.
Paramount Tactical Debunks Disappearing Person Theory
One conspiracy theory that gained traction involved surveillance footage of Tyler Robinson running across the roof and jumping down, which some claimed was edited or AI-generated. The theory centered on a person in the background who appeared to suddenly disappear behind a tree, leading many to question the authenticity of the footage.
Gary Melton from Paramount Tactical went to the University of Valley Utah campus to investigate this claim firsthand. His boots-on-the-ground investigation revealed that the path where the person was walking actually curves and then drops off. From the camera angle, this creates the illusion of someone disappearing when in reality they are simply continuing down a path that drops below the camera's line of sight and stays in line with the trees.
Another question about the footage involved the lack of shadow visible as Robinson ran across the roof. This was explained by the highly reflective white surface he was running across, which can cause shadows to disappear or become imperceptible on camera.
This investigation demonstrates the value of addressing questions with sufficient answers rather than dismissing them outright. When legitimate concerns are investigated and explained, it checks off boxes, decreases future conspiracy theories, reduces doubt, and earns trust.
Crime Scene Beautification Raises Serious Questions
What remains deeply troubling and unhelpful to the investigation is the remodeling of the crime scene just five days after one of the highest profile assassinations in U.S. history took place. Initial theories suggested that Tyler Robinson's father, Matt Robinson, who owns Precision Marble and Granite, was responsible for this beautification work. However, that theory proved to be incorrect.
The actual company that performed the work was Hardscape Utah. The crew leader made a statement addressing the controversy, explaining that he received a call about a week and a half before his statement from maintenance guys from the state of Utah who had been asked to replace and beautify an area where a brother had been gunned down.
The crew leader noted that it was a Sunday, and he usually doesn't work on Sundays, but felt he needed to be useful. He showed up with other workers who all had differing beliefs and viewpoints, and together they completed the work. He acknowledged that it was heavy to work where someone was gunned down, and stated that he was receiving hate online and fake reviews for the work.
What stands out as particularly concerning is that state officials from Utah, not the university or UVU, made the call to beautify the site with such urgency that they got a crew out there on a Sunday, normally a day of rest. The company Hardscape Utah posted pictures of the work they did at the assassination site on their Google listing, with images posted by Edward Thomas showing the completed beautification.
The Need for Transparency and Accountability
The key questions that remain unanswered include the names of the state officials from Utah who ordered this premature beautification of a major crime scene. Why was there such urgency to alter the scene just days after the assassination? Who authorized this decision and what was their reasoning?
What must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and what the FBI seems adamant about, is that Tyler Robinson took the shot and acted alone. However, dismissing actual questions and refusing to address things that do not add up, as Kash Patel appears to believe is the right strategy, is not helpful at all.
What would be acceptable is Patel stating clearly that the FBI is not releasing anything prematurely and will present everything openly to the public at trial, with assurances that the trial will be made public. Transparency is what the American people demand, not dismissal of their concerns as mere conspiracy theories, especially when so many times over the past 25 years, those labeled conspiracy theorists have ended up being the ones who were right.
Video Transcript
[00:00] There have been many theories swirling
[00:02] around about the construction company
[00:03] that beautified, as it's being called,
[00:06] the Charlie Kirk assassination crime
[00:08] scene. One of those theories is that the
[00:11] work was done by Matt Robinson, the
[00:13] father of Tyler Robinson. And we'll get
[00:16] into that. Also, Gary Melton from
[00:19] Paramount Tactical, who has done some
[00:20] good work looking into the Charlie Kirk
[00:22] assassination, just debunked another
[00:25] popular theory that cast major doubt on
[00:28] the FBI investigation. And finally,
[00:31] speaking of the FBI investigation, Cash
[00:33] Patel got visibly frustrated when asked
[00:36] multiple times about the different
[00:38] conspiracy theories coming out on social
[00:42] media about Charlie Kirk. We'll start
[00:44] with this answer, which doesn't make me
[00:47] feel good. I'm Zach Costello.
[00:50] All right, so some quick context.
[00:52] President Trump hosted a press
[00:53] conference wherein Cash Patel was asked
[00:56] to address the different conspiracy
[00:58] theories, and I'm going to continue to
[01:00] put those in air quotes today on social
[01:02] media about the Charlie Kirk
[01:04] assassination. Listen to his answer.
[01:06] >> Director Patel, there's been so many
[01:08] conspiracy theories swirling around
[01:10] about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
[01:12] Do you have any updates for us,
[01:13] especially in light of all the online
[01:15] content that everyone's been talking
[01:16] about?
[01:17] >> The only thing we deal with at the FBI
[01:18] and the Department of Justice is facts.
[01:20] And we delivered in record speed a
[01:22] manhunt to capture Charlie Kirk's
[01:24] alleged session in 33 hours. And if you
[01:26] put that in perspective to Luigi Manion
[01:28] with a Boston mama, they took them 5
[01:30] days and a police officer lost their
[01:31] life in their manhunt. We are running
[01:32] out absolutely every single lead. And
[01:34] the best thing we can do to honor my
[01:36] friend Charlie Kirk's life is to make
[01:37] sure that everyone involved is
[01:39] prosecuted to the full extent of the
[01:40] law. And that's what we're focused on,
[01:42] investigating the facts, not trading in
[01:44] conspiracy theories.
[01:45] >> Okay. Those of us who care about the
[01:47] truth aren't really interested so much
[01:49] in how fast, 33 days, they were able to
[01:53] capture Tyler Robinson. We also aren't
[01:56] interested in how fast you're able to
[01:58] convict and put him to death. We care
[02:01] about thoroughess and truth. Also
[02:05] referring to different arguments and
[02:07] perspectives as conspiracy theories does
[02:11] not help. How many times in the past 25
[02:14] years have the conspiracy theorists end
[02:17] up being the ones who are right. One of
[02:20] those conspiracy theories is that Tyler
[02:23] Robinson did not act alone and Cash
[02:26] Patel was asked about that here.
[02:28] >> Are is there any possibility that other
[02:30] people were involved when you talked at
[02:32] the White House? I sort of got a little
[02:33] inkling that maybe you're looking at
[02:34] other people just
[02:35] >> we're looking at everyone that was that
[02:37] was there that was online and we're
[02:39] looking to refer these matters to the
[02:41] state prosecution authorities when
[02:42] there's enough evidence. But the reality
[02:44] is again with social media when you have
[02:47] hysterical conspiracy theories filling
[02:49] the void, you're harming Charlie and his
[02:51] family and a rightful prosecution of his
[02:53] alleged assassin who we have in custody
[02:55] and rightly so in my opinion. And if
[02:58] anyone helped him, do you think that we
[03:00] at this FBI are literally going to let
[03:01] them get away with it? Us standing
[03:03] silent in the face of glowing, growing
[03:06] conspiracy theories, that's what we do
[03:08] to shut down a faulty prosecution.
[03:12] That's what we do to shut down a system
[03:14] of justice that wants to be exploited by
[03:17] these same anarchists. Then that's what
[03:18] they're doing. They're they're bringing
[03:20] it to social media. They're bringing it
[03:22] online for clickbait. And we're not
[03:24] going to take it. We don't care what you
[03:25] say about me or Dan Bonino or anyone in
[03:28] leadership at the FBI. They're just
[03:29] going to keep doing the work.
[03:30] >> Remaining silent about the growing
[03:32] number of conspiracy theories is
[03:34] certainly not going to help increase the
[03:36] public's trust of the FBI. Silence and
[03:40] not getting answers has been the status
[03:42] quo. And at this point with Americans,
[03:44] it's unacceptable.
[03:46] In fact, we elected this administration.
[03:49] We were excited about Cash Patel and Dan
[03:52] Bonino because we thought that they were
[03:54] going to be open. We thought they were
[03:56] going to open up all of this so that the
[03:58] American people could see what the
[04:00] government has been doing to us, getting
[04:02] rich and powerful off our backs, under
[04:05] our nose. What I will accept is Cash
[04:08] Patel saying that they aren't releasing
[04:10] anything prematurely and will present
[04:12] everything openly to the public at trial
[04:15] and that the trial will be made public.
[04:17] That is good news. What must be proven
[04:20] though beyond a reasonable doubt and the
[04:22] FBI seems adamant about this is that
[04:24] Tyler Robinson took the shot and acted
[04:27] alone. One of the theories that cast a
[04:30] lot of doubt on Tyler Robinson being the
[04:33] shooter was the footage of him running
[04:35] across the roof and jumping down and
[04:37] that it was edited or AI. I'll shout out
[04:40] to Gary Melton here from Paramount
[04:42] Tactical who got his boots on the ground
[04:45] to give us the truth and dispel
[04:47] questions about this item. Watch this.
[04:49] >> All right, so when they first released
[04:51] the surveillance footage of Tyler
[04:53] Robinson jumping off of the roof, there
[04:55] was a lot of people out there saying
[04:56] that was AI footage because the people
[04:58] in the background or a person in the
[05:00] background disappeared suddenly behind a
[05:03] tree and it looks like that path is just
[05:06] going from right to left. That person
[05:08] gets up to that tree. It looks like he
[05:10] should just keep going forward, but then
[05:12] suddenly he disappears. And of course,
[05:14] there was this whole thing started
[05:15] saying that it was AI. I definitely
[05:17] thought the whole thing was weird. And
[05:18] that was one of the things I wanted to
[05:20] investigate while I was there at UVU.
[05:23] And then I have an assistant over here.
[05:25] We got Eric. He is walking. What you
[05:27] don't realize is two things take place.
[05:30] >> Number one is that path actually curves,
[05:35] >> but then it drops off. And so again,
[05:38] when you're looking at this
[05:40] >> camera way,
[05:42] >> he disappears completely as he continues
[05:43] to go down. That path basically not only
[05:46] drops off, but stays in line with these
[05:48] trees. So, I covered this footage
[05:50] myself, and I thought the disappearing
[05:52] man was weird. Also, no shadow on the
[05:56] roof, which one of you all helped me
[05:58] understand can happen on a highly
[06:00] reflective white surface like the one
[06:02] that he was running across. That's the
[06:03] reason the shadow may have disappeared.
[06:05] [snorts] However, and again, I'm happy
[06:07] to be wrong. I don't need to be right
[06:09] about anything. I just want the truth.
[06:11] And when you pose questions and get
[06:13] sufficient answers, this checks off
[06:15] boxes and decreases the amount of future
[06:19] conspiracies. It also reduces doubt and
[06:22] earns trust. Staying quiet and
[06:25] dismissing actual questions and refusing
[06:27] to address things that do not add up as
[06:31] Cash Patel thinks is the right strategy
[06:33] is certainly not helpful at all. What is
[06:36] also not helpful to an investigation is
[06:39] remodeling the crime scene 5 days after
[06:42] one of the highest profile
[06:43] assassinations in US history took place.
[06:47] A lot of talk has been swirling about
[06:49] Tyler Robinson's father, Matt Robinson,
[06:52] who owns Precision Marble and Granite
[06:55] doing this beautifification of the crime
[06:58] scene. That isn't true. It was Hardscape
[07:01] Utah. That's the company that did the
[07:04] work. And here is the guy who ran the
[07:06] crew, making this honestly pretty weird
[07:09] statement. Watch this.
[07:12] >> What's up, guys?
[07:14] Hey, I just want to share a quick post
[07:16] here.
[07:18] Um, I got a call
[07:20] about a week and a half ago from a
[07:22] couple of uh couple of maintenance guys
[07:25] from the state of Utah that
[07:28] had been asked to replace uh to beautify
[07:31] an area where
[07:34] a brother had been gunned down.
[07:40] It was Sunday. I usually don't work on
[07:41] Sunday, but but I needed to be useful.
[07:44] And um
[07:46] so I showed up with a couple of of my
[07:49] brother with a couple of other brothers
[07:51] that uh we all have differing beliefs
[07:55] and differing viewpoints
[07:57] and together we were useful.
[08:02] It was heavy
[08:04] to work where a brother was gunned down.
[08:07] Uh but we did it. And um
[08:11] I've wanted to make a post. I haven't
[08:13] wanted to be controversial.
[08:16] Uh America is founded on people with
[08:19] different beliefs working together. And
[08:22] that's exactly what we did that Sunday
[08:24] and that Monday.
[08:27] And um I'm getting some hate online for
[08:30] it. I'm getting some fake reviews. And
[08:34] uh you know, the answer to hate is love.
[08:38] The answer to falsehood is truth.
[08:41] >> So, this dude has a lot of brothers.
[08:42] [laughter]
[08:44] My brother here and my brother there.
[08:45] Charlie Kirk was his brother. I don't
[08:47] like how it seems like he it seems like
[08:50] he's trying to make himself cry making
[08:51] this statement. I also don't like how he
[08:54] said he doesn't normally work on
[08:55] Sundays, but this time they did. State
[08:59] officials from Utah called and got him
[09:02] out there with urgency on a Sunday,
[09:05] normally a day of rest to get this done.
[09:09] I Googled Hardscape Utah and when you
[09:12] do, they have pictures posted of the
[09:15] work that they did here at the
[09:16] assassination site. Edward [snorts]
[09:18] Thomas, as you can see, posted the
[09:20] pictures and you can see that right
[09:22] here. State officials from Utah, not the
[09:26] university, not UVU, made the call to
[09:30] beautify the site. What are the names of
[09:33] those officials? This is information
[09:36] that I think we need to know. Any tips,
[09:39] send them to zackzack costello.com.
[09:42] I'll see you all tomorrow. I'm Zack
[09:44] Costello.
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