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The embattled Arizona sheriff leading the Nancy Guthrie investigation has lashed out at the FBI after its director, Kash Patel, accused police of blocking the agency from assisting in the early stages of the probe.
Chris Nanos, the Pima County Sheriff, staunchly defended his officers during an appearance on “The Sharpe Exchange” Tuesday over how they handled the early stages of the investigation — accusing Patel of being “misinformed.”
In May, Patel claimed the FBI was kept out of the investigation for four days, which Nanos rebuked.
“They were there day one just as my team was,” Nanos told Gen-Z commentator Wyatt Sharpe, blasting the FBI chief.
“I just think he’s misinformed. Our detectives were called in after our search and rescue team recognized what they had, contacted our investigative teams,” he insisted.
“They immediately contacted the Violent Crime Task Force and their representatives were there,” he continued.
“They processed that scene early the next day. The concept or the representation that the FBI was held off and boy, we wish we’d have been there early on, that’s not just even accurate. They were there [on] day one just as my team was.”
Nanos — who has come under fire for his handling of the high-profile case — went on to speculate that Patel may have been given outdated or filtered information about the case.
“He certainly doesn’t owe me an explanation or a question or anything. He’s the director of the FBI,” he said. “But when the information is put out there that’s not accurate, I think it hurts the case.”
Patel had berated local law enforcement over the processing of evidence discovered early in the case.
“What we, the FBI, do is say, ‘Hey, we’re here to help. What do you need?” Patel told Fox News star Sean Hannity on the “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” podcast.
“What can we do? And for four days, we were kept out of the investigation.”
For instance, evidence was sent to a private lab in Florida rather than the FBI’s facility in Quantico, Virginia– a move Patel believes cost investigators time.
“I had a fixed-wing aircraft on the ground ready to move it immediately through the night,” he said.
“And they said, ‘we’re sending it to Florida,’ and then, I don’t know, 60 days. They have jurisdiction, so it’s their call.
“We would have analyzed it within days and maybe gotten better information or more information. Our lab’s just better than any other private lab out there, and we didn’t get a chance to do that.
“The first 48 hours of anyone’s disappearance are the most critical.”
At the time, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department insisted to The Post that Nanos began working with the FBI “without delay.”
It has been almost six months since Guthrie, 84, vanished, but Nanos revealed the case isn’t cold.
“We have a lot of evidence that our scientific labs are working,” he said.
“There’s video evidence that we continue to work with, not just labs, but also some private corporations who have graciously given their time to help look at some of the video evidence and see if we can’t piece things together.
“And of course, there are literally thousands of tips that come in.”
Nanos also vowed to support Guthrie’s family and said if they believe the matriarch is still alive, he would also hold the same view.
But he revealed he would “absolutely” reveal if investigators stumbled upon a burial site.
“That’s critical [to the investigation],” he said.
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