Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche is speaking out on reports of “friction” between federal and local authorities as the search continues for Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother, Nancy Guthrie.
“The FBI has worked closely since the day that this happened with the local law enforcement,” Blanche, 51, told NewsNation’s Ali Bradley in an interview published on Thursday, May 7. “And there have been reports of friction. I’ve seen those reports. We are here to help. And the FBI, President Trump, authorized and directed us to do everything we can to help in that investigation.”
Blanche added that Nancy’s missing persons case is “at its heart, a local investigation” because of the “nature of this type of potential crime.”
Nancy, 84, was reported missing on February 1 after she was last seen by family the night before. She is believed to have been abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona, in the early hours of the morning.
“The FBI remains exactly where we’ve been, which is, we’re ready, willing and able to help as much as we can,” Blanche continued as the case nears its 100 day mark. “We don’t like interagency squabbles. Nobody likes that. That doesn’t help the investigation. But we are in a complete cooperative mode with the local law enforcement.”
Blanche also weighed in on whether or not he believes the FBI should take over the investigation.
“Well, I don’t think or not think that. I think that any investigation like this should be done by a coordinated approach, right?” he said. “There’s tools that the local law enforcement has that the FBI doesn’t have. So, in any investigation like this, it’s not somebody taking over or taking a back seat. It’s working together to solve the crime.”
Blanche’s comments come two days after FBI director Kash Patel claimed that local authorities initially sidelined his agency, preventing them from investigating Nancy’s disappearance.
“They did,” Patel, 46, claimed on the Tuesday, May 5, episode of Fox News Media’s “Hang Out With Sean Hannity” podcast. “It is a state matter. It’s a state and local law enforcement matter. What we, the FBI, do is say, ‘Hey, we’re here to help. What do you need? What can we do?’ And for four days, we were kept out of the investigation.”
The Pima County Sheriff in Arizona refuted the claim in a statement to Us Weekly on Wednesday, April 6.
“Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is aware of FBI Director Kash Patel’s recent interview and statement,” a spokesperson for the police force said. “Sheriff Nanos responded to the scene the night of the incident, providing immediate local leadership and oversight.”
The statement continued, “A member of the FBI Task Force was also notified and present at that scene working alongside our personnel. The FBI was promptly notified by both our department and the Guthrie family. While the FBI Director was not on scene, coordination with the Bureau began without delay.”
