Nancy Guthrie: Kash Patel critical of Arizona sheriff's handling of case
The Brief
In an interview with Sean Hannity, FBI Director Kash Patel slammed Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos' handling of the Nancy Guthrie case, saying the federal agency was initially kept out of the investigation.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department responded to Patel, saying the FBI was "promptly notified" following Guthrie's disappearance.
Guthrie, the mother of "Today" host Savannah Guthrie, has been missing for over three months. Authorities believe she was abducted from her Tucson-area home.
TUCSON, Ariz. - It's been more than three months since Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her Tucson-area home, and the Pima County Sheriff is being criticized by the head of the FBI over his handling of the case.
What they're saying:
FBI Director Kash Patel says the Pima County Sheriff's Department did not initially allow the FBI to assist in the investigation, which delayed the gathering of critical evidence.
Patel spoke with Fox News channel's Sean Hannity on his "Hang Out with Sean Hannity" podcast, saying it was four days before PCSD asked the FBI to help out with the case. The FBI director says once federal agents were involved, they were able to recover the image of the masked man seen tampering with Guthrie's doorbell camera.
Photos of the masked suspect were released by the FBI amid the ongoing search for Nancy Guthrie.
"For four days, we were kept out of the investigation," Patel said. "When we were finally let in, Sean, look what we did. We went in and got the Ring doorbell, and we said, ‘Hey, is anyone talking to Google?’ I called the leadership at Google and I said, 'Look, we know that there was not a subscription service to capture all of the data that would have been captured had there been a subscription service, but can we go into the cache, can we go into the date before it's deleted and see what we can find?' That's why you have that image because the FBI worked with Google to put that image out."
In the interview with Hannity, Patel also questioned PCSD's decision to send DNA evidence to a private lab in Florida, instead of the FBI's laboratory in Quantico.
"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," Patel said. "So I understand everybody's frustrations on that."
The other side:
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos responded to Patel's interview, saying he was on the scene the night of Guthrie's disappearance. Nanos also said a member of the FBI task force was notified and worked with the sheriff's department.
FBI Director Kash Patel, Nancy Guthrie and Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. (Getty Images)
"The FBI was promptly notified by both our department and the Guthrie family," Nanos said in the statement. "While the FBI Director was not on scene, coordination with the Bureau began without delay.
Nanos added that the private lab in Florida and the Quantico laboratory "worked in close partnership from the onset" and they continue to work together on the DNA evidence.
The backstory:
Nancy Guthrie went missing on the night of Jan. 31 and was reported missing on Feb. 1 when she didn't show up for church. Since her disappearance, the FBI released footage of her alleged abductor at her doorstep.
Nancy Guthrie (Pima County Sheriff's Department)
What you can do:
Savannah Guthrie says her family is offering a $1 million reward for the recovery of Nancy. Anyone with information should contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department has also set up a tipline where the community can submit information. An online form is available for tips.
Trump Admin Says It Uncovered $10 Billion Obamacare Fraud Scheme
The Trump administration says it has uncovered what it describes as a massive fraud scheme within the Affordable Care Act.
Members of Trump’s administration allege that roughly $10 billion in taxpayer money was improperly paid out between 2021 and 2024 because of weakened enrollment safeguards under former President Joe Biden.
According to a Department of Health and Human Services report, officials have already removed nearly three million fraudulent or improper Obamacare enrollments and estimate another 2.6 million questionable enrollments remain.
Administration officials say the findings are part of a broader government-wide effort to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse across federal programs.
The report traces the alleged problems to changes made during the Biden administration that expanded enrollment opportunities while relaxing income verification and eligibility checks.
At the start of Biden’s presidency, approximately 10 million people were enrolled through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. By 2024, enrollment had surged to roughly 22 million.
Federal investigators now believe millions of those enrollments were improper, fraudulent, or created without the knowledge of the individuals involved.
“By our estimate, improper, phantom, and fraudulent enrollment peaked at 5.6 million people in 2025,” the report states.
“We estimate 2.6 million improper and phantom enrollments remain, including over 1 million enrollments without a Social Security number.”
According to the report, several different forms of abuse contributed to the alleged fraud.
Officials say some applicants intentionally understated their income to qualify for larger taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Others allegedly received premium assistance despite failing to meet eligibility requirements.
Investigators also identified what they describe as “phantom enrollments,” in which insurance brokers allegedly enrolled people in Obamacare plans without their knowledge to collect federal commissions.
The report argues that reduced verification requirements made those practices significantly easier to carry out.
Since taking office, the Trump administration says it has restored stricter income verification requirements, ended several special enrollment periods, increased screening for duplicate Medicaid enrollment, and launched investigations into brokers suspected of creating phantom policies.
Officials also say they have strengthened oversight of agents participating in the federal marketplace.
As a result of those efforts, nearly three million enrollments have already been removed from the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Even after those removals, approximately 19.2 million people remain enrolled.
The administration says its goal is not to reduce legitimate coverage but to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent only on individuals who actually qualify.
“Preserving the fiscal and programmatic integrity of the ACA Exchanges is key to safeguarding taxpayer-funded resources for those that truly need them,” the report states.
“The federal government paying brokers to enroll individuals without their knowledge is not.”
The report also says the administration will continue pursuing additional enforcement actions against brokers and others accused of exploiting the program.
“The Trump Administration continues to aggressively root out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption by promulgating new regulations to improve program integrity, investigating suspected improper or fraudulent enrollment, and taking action against agents and brokers committing fraud.”
The findings are likely to reignite debate over the Affordable Care Act and how aggressively eligibility rules should be enforced.
Supporters of the administration argue the report demonstrates that stricter oversight is necessary to protect taxpayers and preserve benefits for those legally entitled to receive them.
Critics of previous verification rollbacks have long warned that loosening enrollment safeguards could increase improper payments and fraud, while supporters of the Biden-era policies argued the changes made healthcare more accessible to eligible Americans, Fox News reported exclusively.
The administration says its investigations remain ongoing, with an estimated 2.6 million additional enrollments still under review as officials continue auditing the federal health insurance exchanges.
Trump has been pushing to replace Obamacare for over a decade, and this may give Republicans enough motivation to actually do something.
