Kash Patel had a room full of cameras Wednesday and 40 minutes to talk cartels.
He used every second of it on everything except the one topic reporters actually wanted to hear about.
And when they asked about what they really wanted to know, it seemed like he got right out of Dodge.
The moment came Aug. 5, at the end of a news conference at the Department of Justice Robery F. Kennedy Building in Washington, where officials announced new indictments against senior Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación leaders and unveiled more than $100 million in rewards for information on their capture.
Attorney General Todd Blanche, Patel, DEA Administrator Terry Cole and other federal officials spent the briefing detailing the administration’s latest push against the cartel’s drug trafficking and fraud operations. Then, as officials wrapped up and turned to leave, a reporter shouted a question that had nothing to do with Mexico.
“Director Patel, is there any update on the Guthrie case since the ransom notes were made public?” a woman’s voice asked.
No comment today by FBI Director Kash Patel about the Nancy Guthrie case. pic.twitter.com/TyqMTZLThc
— JLR© (@JLRINVESTIGATES) August 5, 2026
Patel didn’t stop. He didn’t turn around. No one did.
He and the rest of the officials simply kept walking, leaving the question hanging in the room behind them.
Video of the moment spread fast, and the reaction online was brutal.
One person wrote, “Wise Choice.” Another replied, “He shouldn’t comment on it, it’s being handled by her friends in Pima and Arizona. [Pima County Sheriff Chris] Nanos and [Arizona] Sen. Mark Kelly”
A third comment read, “Maybe he has nothing to report.” Someone else added, “I was hoping he would.”
“Patel isn’t going to take this mess of a case over. Can you blame him? Nanos has botched this case SO badly that Kash wants nothing to do with it. Where is Nancy Guthrie?” one person wrote after watching the clip.
The silence hits six months into a case that has tested the FBI director’s patience and his public standing.
Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, vanished from her Tucson-area home in the early hours of Feb. 1. She had physical limitations that kept her from walking more than 50 yards unassisted, and investigators quickly determined she didn’t leave on her own. Her home was treated as a crime scene from the start.
Two ransom notes, both traced to the same IP address, followed.
The first, sent Feb. 2, demanded $4 million in bitcoin by Feb. 5, then raised the demand to $6 million with a Feb. 9 deadline. It warned that Nancy “is aware that her life is in your hands” and cautioned against involving police.
The second note, sent Feb. 6, delivered the outcome families dread most. It said Nancy died shortly after she was taken, that her death was likely “heart related,” and that she was “buried in nature now.”
Pima County released both letters publicly in early August, hoping the writer’s distinctive phrasing might jog someone’s memory, according to NBC News.
The case has been a case study in dysfunction.
Patel has publicly accused Sheriff Nanos of locking the FBI out the investigation for the first four days and mishandling DNA evidence by sending it to a private Florida lab instead of the bureau’s Quantico facility, according to 13 ABC.
Nanos has pushed back just as hard, insisting coordination began immediately.
A person of interest was detained early on and released without charges. Blood was found at the scene, and its source still hasn’t been confirmed. No suspect has ever been named.
Trump hasn’t made things easier.
Asked days earlier whether the FBI should take a bigger role given the stalled six-month investigation, the president offered a rambling answer that left many shaking their heads.
Reporter: Since Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance investigation has now been stalled for six months, is it time for the FBI to get involved?
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 2, 2026
Trump: Well, they are involved to an extent, but as you know, the local community really runs those things. And, you know, some people haven’t… pic.twitter.com/FiB2Xhwz2H
“Well, they are involved to an extent, but as you know, the local community really runs those things,” Trump said. “And, you know, some people haven’t liked the way the local community is running it. They haven’t liked the way the sheriff’s run it. But we would like to give them the benefit of the doubt. We’re there anytime they need us as well. It’s a terrible thing. Thank you very much.”
Savannah Guthrie has pleaded publicly for the person responsible to come forward, calling it “never too late to do the right thing.”
Her family is offering $1 million for information, on top of the FBI’s own reward.
Nancy Guthrie still hasn’t been found, and now the man leading the bureau tasked with finding her can’t even answer a question about her case without walking away.
