FBI fires back after CNN analyst criticizes Bureau for quickly classifying Boulder attack as terrorism
An FBI official responded sharply to CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem after she bashed the agency for quickly calling Sunday's anti-Israel firebombing attack in Colorado an act of terrorism.
"The guy shouted 'Free Palestine' while throwing firebombs at a crowd of Jewish people. We correctly referred to an investigation of terrorism, will continue to do so, and we have zero interest in what either [of] these CNN guests have to say. Kick rocks," assistant director for public affairs at the FBI Ben Williamson posted on X in response to Kayyem's comments.
Williamson's response was shared by FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on his personal account.
Kayyem slammed FBI Director Kash Patel's decision to label the firebombing of people who were rallying to support the release of Israeli hostages as a "terror attack," saying it made the FBI look "juvenile."
"It makes law enforcement look disorganized, and it makes the FBI look so juvenile, like, why are you getting ahead of the police chief who says, 'I don't know what this is,'" Kayyem said on CNN Sunday.
At a press conference a few hours after the attack, Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said his department wasn't calling the attack terrorism at that time, and it was too early to determine a motive for the attack.
The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is an Egyptian national who overstayed his travel visa but was subsequently granted a work visa by the Biden administration that expired in March, Homeland Security officials told Fox News.
Soliman was arrested Sunday after allegedly setting his victims on fire using a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails as they peacefully participated in a "Run for Their Lives" community walk to raise awareness of Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas.
The suspect allegedly plotted the attack for a year, waiting until his daughter graduated from high school before going on his rampage, according to a police affidavit.
Soliman was caught on video yelling "free Palestine" and other anti-Israel slogans during the attack, which left 12 victims injured. Soliman later told police he wanted to kill "all Zionist people."
Patel reacted to the attack on X, stating, "We are aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado. Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available."
Bongino said the attack is being investigated as an act of "ideologically motivated violence," based on early information, evidence and witness accounts.
Kayyem, a Harvard professor who served as a Department of Homeland Security official in the Obama administration, dismissed Patel and Bongino as "two heads of the FBI who don't have a long history in law enforcement" and said she would only call the attack a hate crime after an investigation had been conducted.
"But until we do, we all need to, to not follow the FBI's tweets," she said.
The CNN law enforcement analyst's comments elicited fierce condemnation on social media.
"When the evidence passed to our FBI leadership team, from an active crime scene, includes clearly ideologically-motivated statements, video, multiple witness accounts, Molotov cocktails, and large gatherings of like-minded people, we will INVESTIGATE those incidents as targeted acts of terror… Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in our justice system. But we are the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We are not the Federal Bureau of Word Games," Bongino posted Monday.
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