Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, appeared not to know the identity of the mass shooter who, in 2015, horrifically murdered 9 Black parishioners during a congressional on Capitol Hill.
When questioned by U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., during a Wednesday hearing before the House Oversight Committee, Patel seemed unaware of Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who gunned down the Black churchgoers at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Following last week’s fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Patel and other Republican voices, including President Donald Trump, have argued that extreme liberal ideology was to blame for rising political violence.
Kamlager-Dove sought to emphasize the number of mass shootings committed by radicalized far-right white supremacists over the years, like the church shooting in Charleston.
“You said that there is violent, extreme ideology on both sides,” said the California congresswoman. She continued, “So Dylann Roof, who followed white supremacist propaganda, murdered nine Black parishioners in Charleston in 2015. Do you deny this?”
Seemingly to Kamlager-Dove’s surprise, Patel replied, “I’m sorry, Dylan Roof? Can you give me some more information?”
“You’re head of the FBI. You probably know this. If you don’t know, that’s fine,” said Kamlager-Dove. The FBI director said, “Can you give me a reminder? I’ve got a lot in front of me.”
KAMLAGER-DOVE: Dylan Roof, who followed white supremacist propaganda, murdered 9 Black parishioners in 2015. Do you deny this?
PATEL: I’m sorry. Dylan Roof? Can you give me more information?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: You’re head of the FBI pic.twitter.com/oG863Uw0qq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 17, 2025
“It was national news,” said Rep. Kamlager-Dove.
Roof, who was 21 years old at the time of the mass shooting, wrote a manifesto after the shooting expressing his racist views against Black people and other racial and ethnic groups. He had become radicalized from a hate group’s website about “Black-on-white crime” in 2012 after the killing of Trayvon Martin and the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The congresswoman went on to list other mass shootings committed by white nationalists who harbored racist views, including the 2022 mass shooting of 10 Black shoppers at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Kamlager-Dove sought to get Patel to say on record whether he agreed or denied that these murders by white supremacists occurred.
Kamlager-Dove asked Patel if he agreed with his predecessor, former FBI Director Christopher Wray, who said racially-motivated violent extremism, particularly those committed by white supremacists, is “responsible for the most lethal attacks over the last decade.” Patel replied, “That there is racially motivated crimes being committed in America? Yes.”
The congresswoman interjected, “Especially white supremacists, which is the biggest chunk of our domestic terrorism.”
Rep. Kamlager-Dove later took to social media to react to the exchange, writing, “The Director of the FBI doesn’t know who Dylann Roof is? It’s incredibly shameful and concerning that Kash Patel doesn’t know about one of the most heinous hate crimes against Black Americans in the last decade.”
Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist and South Carolina native who knew the pastor of Emanuel AME, Clementa Pinckney, who was one of Roof’s nine victims, told theGrio he was “disgusted” by Patel’s House testimony.
“I don’t know one that can measure up to what the Charleston massacre was, considering all the ramifications that came along with it, and considering it was a Republican governor [Nikki Haley] who was leading the state of South Carolina at that time,” said Seawright.
He added, “If you work within the FBI, you have to have a catalog of incidents for the sake of credibility at the top of mind.”
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, also challenged Patel on the Trump administration’s lack of focus on white supremacist violence.
“I don’t know who feels safe in this country, except for the white supremacists, because I specifically, as a Black woman, definitely don’t feel safe,” said Crockett during Wednesday’s hearing.
Crockett noted that after the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week, several HBCUs received threats of violence and were forced to have lockdowns.
“There was domestic terrorism that was taking place at HBCUs. They were targeted. Yet I didn’t hear anything from the FBI about what was going on. And again, Black people kept saying, ‘How do we end up in this?’” said the congresswoman.
“Kash Patel is a foot soldier of white supremacy, so of course, he’s not going to acknowledge the carnage and the violence inflicted by white supremacists,” said political analyst Reecie Colbert. “His charge is to move forward with this white nationalist agenda.”
Recalling President Trump’s first term, the host of Sirius XM’s “The Reecie Colbert Show” told theGrio, “His DOJ drastically reduced the number of hate crimes prosecutions. So he has always kind of given a wink and a nod to white supremacy.”
“He told the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by. He called the [white nationalists] in Charlottesville very fine people. And so this is pretty much what this country gave the permission slip to when they elected Donald Trump in 2024,” said Colbert.
During her questioning of Patel, Kamlager-Dove called out the Trump administration for scrubbing a 2024 article devoted to domestic radicalization, violent extremism, and terrorism from the Department of Justice’s website.
“What makes a strong, qualified director of any business, of any household, of the FBI, what makes a reputable prosecutor is not lap dog loyalty, but a commitment to the creed that evidence is agnostic and that the evidence will lead you to making the right decision,” said the congresswoman. “And your job, no one’s job, is to like the data or the evidence. It is to collect it. That is how you gain trust.”
