FBI Director Kash Patel criticized authorities in Arizona for their handling of the Nancy Guthrie case, telling Sean Hannity on a podcast that the sheriff\u2019s office investigating her possible abduction sidelined the agency for days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we, the FBI, do is say, ‘Hey, we\u2019re here to help,’\u201d Patel told Hannity on an episode of “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” released Tuesday. \u201cWhat do you need? What can we do? And for four days, we were kept out of the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos disputed those comments, saying in a statement Tuesday night that when he responded to the scene the night Guthrie disappeared, a member of the FBI Task Force had been notified and was present, working alongside local law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe FBI was promptly notified by both our department and the Guthrie family,\u201d Nanos said. He added that his department will continue working with the FBI and remains committed to a \u201cthorough, coordinated, and fact-based investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guthrie, the mother of \u201cTODAY\u201d co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing Feb. 1 from her home in the Tucson area. Nanos has said investigators believe she was targeted. No suspects or persons of interest have been publicly named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patel also criticized the sheriff\u2019s department\u2019s handling of physical evidence. Blood found on her porch matched Guthrie\u2019s DNA, but mixed, partial samples found in her home have proven more difficult to analyze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sheriff\u2019s office turned to genetic genealogy to examine those samples, Nanos has said, but the lab analyzing them has reported what he described as \u201cchallenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patel told Hannity: \u201cWe would have analyzed it within days and maybe gotten better information or more information. Our lab\u2019s just better than any other private lab out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd we didn\u2019t get a chance to do that,\u201d he added. \u201cI understand everybody\u2019s frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nanos said Tuesday that evidence decisions made on the scene were \u201cbased on operational needs.\u201d He said the lab the sheriff\u2019s department uses and the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, have worked closely \u201cand continue to collaborate in the analysis of evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patel praised the FBI for uncovering the most significant lead in the case \u2014 images from Guthrie\u2019s doorbell camera that captured an armed, masked man outside her home the morning she disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guthrie did not have a subscription for the Google Nest camera that would have saved the video, and Patel has said the FBI recovered it from \u201cresidual data on backend systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patel released the images Feb. 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why you have that image,\u201d he told Hannity. \u201cBecause the FBI worked with Google to put that image out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n