By Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday asked a congressional watchdog to scrutinize FBI Director Kash Patel’s use of a government airplane, amid questions about his frequent personal travel and whether he is reimbursing the government.
As FBI director, Patel is required to fly on a government plane for all his travel for security reasons. If such flights are used for personal travel, the director is required by federal regulations to reimburse the government at the rate of a commercial flight.
The request from Senator Dick Durbin to the Government Accountability Office came the day Patel was slated to appear in the first of two congressional appropriations hearings where he will face questions about how he has been running the bureau and press Congress to give the FBI more money.
An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Durbin’s letter or answer questions on whether Patel had reimbursed the government for any travel that has been personal in nature.
Patel, unlike most of his predecessors, has embraced the limelight as FBI director. His social media account on X is flooded with photos of him attending NHL games and Ultimate Fighting Championship matches, where he has posed for pictures with celebrities including legendary hockey player Wayne Gretzky and actor Mel Gibson.
Public flight-tracking data shows that an FBI plane made at least three trips out to Nashville, where Patel’s girlfriend and country singer Alexis Wilkins resides.
On at least one of those trips, Patel met with Governor Bill Lee and Republican Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn, according to his social media posts.
Public flight records also show several FBI planes took trips to Las Vegas, where Patel maintains a residence, as well as to New York City. The timing of the New York flight coincided with an appearance by Patel at an Islanders hockey game.
The New York Times previously reported on some of the flights.
“Some of these flights appear to coincide with official business, but it is not clear whether all travel was mission-related or personal in nature,” Durbin wrote in his letter.
Durbin added that public reporting on the flights “underscores the need for clarity on whether DOJ executives—including the FBI Director — are complying with applicable regulations and reimbursement requirements for nonmission-related travel.”
Last week, Reuters reported that the White House is asking Congress to consider cutting the FBI’s budget by about $550 million, from its current spending level of $10.6 billion.
In prepared testimony on Wednesday before a U.S. House appropriations subcommittee, Patel urged Congress to give the bureau the funds it needs to combat violent crime and terrorism.
“Without the funds to get ahead of our adversaries, we risk making tradeoffs that will jeopardize the safety of all Americans,” he said in prepared remarks.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward, editing by Deepa Babington)
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