MODERATOR: Distinguished guests, please welcome the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, accompanied by Acting Special Presidential Envoy Dustin Stewart and Senior Advisor Adam Boehler. (Applause.)
MR STEWART: It’s great to see everybody up here again in a different room, but that doesn’t look like we lost too many people. Again, I just want to thank everybody for joining us today again, former hostages and detainees, families, advocates, partners from the Hill, partners from everywhere. We greatly appreciate this. For the second part of our event today, we’re going to do the flag-raising piece. And at this time, I’d like to introduce Mr. Adam Boehler. (Applause.)
MR BOEHLER: Great to see everybody here. I think many of you know that when the President asked me if there was any job that I thought that I wanted to focus on, I told him that this was the only one I would look at. Because I think there’s nothing more important for this country than for everyone to know that if they’re abroad and they’re taken that the country has their back. And this president, President Trump, has made it a critical priority of his and his administration to do that. And he’s built a cabinet that’s focused on that, with one of them here, Kash Patel, who has his own specific experience in this area.
You saw what the President said yesterday to Hamas, where he made it abundantly clear that taking U.S. citizens – or any citizens – wrongfully is not appropriate and it will be answered in the toughest way possible. I’ve worked directly with the President, directly with Secretary Rubio, Mike Waltz, and others, Kash, to make sure that our policies are 100 percent focused on returning people home. And this President has no qualms about using action when it’s necessary, and we will all back him up in that.
So it’s starting a new era – I do believe it is new – where we’re saying that it is not acceptable in any case to hold American citizens abroad wrongfully. (Applause.) So I think you’ll see some announcements in coming days. And the President will continue to push until all of our Americans, dead or alive, are returned.
So let me give you Kash Patel, who I’m excited for his remarks. (Applause.)
DIRECTOR PATEL: Well, it’s an honor being here on this day. And as I look around the room, I see so many people that I know, so many people that we’ve shared laughs together, we’ve shared dinners together, we’ve shared tears together, and sometimes we’ve shared joy together. And we need to focus on sharing some more joy and removing the pain that too many American families and families around the world feel when their loved one is taken.
And that’s what I tell people when I travel around the country and around the world who don’t have insight into this family that we have. Just imagine if one of yours was taken. What would you do and what would you expect the United States Government to do to return them to you? And the simple answer from this administration, from President Trump, from Secretary Rubio, from Adam and Dustin and so many others in the Intelligence Community is we will do everything. This is a top priority. And for me – (applause.)
For me, there is no one agency that gets this done. It is an interagency process. And to stand before you as the ninth director of the FBI, especially as we approach March 9th, which is the anniversary of Bob’s disappearance 18 years ago – and I know Debra Tice is in here, and her son has been gone for over a decade, and I know so many of you share so many similar paths, unfortunately. With Bob and Austin and others, we will utilize the full weight of the interagency. We will work with our partners in the CIA and the Intelligence Community. And we will demolish any political obstacles that stand in the way.
I think you guys know me well enough to know that I don’t care what the media says about me, and I’m not going to start caring today. Our care and our love and our support will be to you and your families. And standing in this position is really humbling, because now having shared so much time and space in the hostage rescue efforts and those wrongfully detained, whether they’re – are in places like Iran or China or Russia or in the Middle East or Africa, we understand collectively – this team – the operational mechanics it takes to take people back.
But behind this team and leading this team is a diplomatic engagement and an Intelligence Community leadership structure that is fully committed to making sure we zero out the number of hostages and those wrongfully detained, and we bring home the remains of those that we unfortunately could not bring home.
And so my singular promise to you and this community is that I will do everything as your director of the FBI to marshal the resources necessary to make sure that no other American family feels that pain. We are fighting multiple wars overseas, especially in relation to the October 7th and those wrongfully detained there. We still don’t have everybody back. Whatever lawful authorities we have at the FBI, we are going to give 24/7, 365 days to make sure that we zero out this number and to make sure we prevent others from going into situations that you are now all too familiar with.
So for us, it’s an honor to be here, especially on this day. It is a solemn reminder. And my one ask to you is – you are our best voices. So many of you have shared your stories; so many of you have shared your heartaches. But the American people don’t know all of your stories, and you’re the best way to communicate to the American people so they understand why this administration is putting such an emphasis on these matters. And so my ask to you is to work with us to get out your story, to get out the truth, and to recognize, for me, this is an apolitical mission. I don’t have the luxury and thankfully I don’t have to deal with the politics of it anymore, and I won’t. We do not look at it through that lens. We simply look at it through the lens of if I knew someone that was taken from my family, there is nothing on Earth I wouldn’t do to get them back.
So from me, you have that commitment to you with this team here, with Secretary Rubio and President Trump. We are going to get the hostages and detainees home, and we are going to bring closure to the families that have been waiting far too long to have it. So thank you for being here today. I appreciate you. (Applause.)
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