January 1, EXPOSED: Kash Patel Slams Critics Attacking FBI Agents Over Most Wanted Arrests

Wyatt’s Take

• Director Kash Patel defends the hard-working men and women of the FBI who put violent criminals behind bars.
• Operation Summer Heat 2.0 delivered record arrests, seizures, and child recoveries across the country.
• Patel says the bureau is finally focused on the field instead of Washington bureaucrats.

Kash Patel pushed back against critics who are questioning the FBI’s Most Wanted fugitive numbers. He framed the attacks as an attempt to smear the career agents who actually run the lists and make the arrests.

Patel said the career staff decides who belongs on the Most Wanted list based on the threat level and the chance of capture. He made it clear that political leadership has nothing to do with those decisions.

“Look, it’s really simple,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “The FBI’s Most Wanted list and any other campaign we’re putting on has been going on for at least 75 years. The career staff at the bureau manage that list. They look and say, ‘Who’s the target of opportunity? Who can we get? Who’s the worst perpetrator who’s been on the run?’ and then they announce it. I literally don’t have anything to do with it.”

Patel added that critics are upset because the Trump administration and the current FBI are putting law enforcement first and protecting American citizens.

“I just think that those critics out there are super unpleased with the fact that the Trump administration and this FBI delivered on what used to be an apolitical mission of keeping law enforcement at the top and protecting our American citizens,” he said.

The agency recently wrapped up Operation Summer Heat 2.0, a nationwide push against violent crime, gangs, and drug trafficking. Patel credited the results to moving nearly 2,000 agents out of Washington and into field offices where the real work happens.

Authorities made more than 8,900 arrests, seized 5,013 weapons, recovered or located more than 1,400 children, and conducted 687 fentanyl seizures during the operation.

Patel said the FBI has shifted from short-term crime surges to a permanent, field-first approach that keeps pressure on violent criminals year-round.

“You have to talk to the American people. You have to show up in the field and you have to drive resources and permanently place people and technology in the field,” Patel said. “That was the sort of overarching approach to striking at the heart of violent crime.”

He noted that last year alone, the country saw 1.1 million fewer violent crimes including aggravated assaults, rapes, robberies, and homicides.

“Just to show you that it’s working in every single city and major metropolis across the country, last year for the first time, America saw 1.1 million fewer violent aggravated assaults, rapes, robberies, and homicides,” Patel said. “That’s 1.1 million fewer victims across the country because of what the federal government, the Bureau, and our partners were able to bring to bear across the country.”

Wyatt Matters

Middle America wants law enforcement that focuses on protecting families and communities, not fighting political battles in Washington. When agents are out in the field making arrests and seizing drugs and guns, the results speak for themselves.