Kash Patel flew on $60 million FBI jet for girlfriend's show; agency says no rules broken
The FBI says Kash Patel did not break any rules after allegations surfaced that he used a $60 million Department of Justice aircraft to attend a wrestling event at Pennsylvania State University, where his girlfriend was performing.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has defended Director Kash Patel after allegations emerged that he used a $60 million Department of Justice aircraft for a personal trip to Pennsylvania State University. The trip, which took place over the weekend, was to attend the Real American Freestyle wrestling event, where Kash Pate's girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, was performing, reported The Times of India.
The accusation was made by former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, who criticised Kash Patel for using taxpayer-funded resources, especially now, during the US government shutdown.
However, the FBI has pushed back against the criticism. Assistant Director for Public Affairs at the FBI, Ben Williamson, responded on X on 30 October, saying that Kash Patel's travel choices have actually saved the agency money.
He posted, “This FBI has taken steps to dramatically reduce costs of Director travel, both official and personal. For example, when Kash flies, he chooses to take a government airfield vs. airports like DCA, because the government option is about 2.5x cheaper. This is a choice that ends up saving millions in the long haul.”
He added, “His predecessors did not do this. Chris Wray for example took 772 trips and over 2/3 of those were out of DCA, the DCA trips costing $3.9 million ($2.2 million more expensive than government airfield would’ve been). James Comey took nearly 500 trips and flew out of DCA for nearly half of those - the DCA half costing over $1.8 million, which would’ve been $1 million cheaper had he made the same choice Director Patel does. So spare me."
Ben Williamson added that Kash Patel has significantly limited his personal travel, but he was occasionally allowed to take personal time to see family, friends, or his longtime girlfriend. He added that Kash didn’t do this often, worked many more full weekends than usual, and, most importantly, was on duty 24/7 according to anyone who worked for him.
What did Kyle Seraphin say?
“We’re in the middle of government shutdown where they’re not even gonna pay all of the employees that work for the agency that this guy heads. And this guy is jetting off to hang out with his girlfriend in Nashville on our dime?" Seraphin said, as per the report.
Meanwhile, according to The Independent, flight records indicate that a Justice Department-registered plane departed from Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia on 25 October and arrived roughly 40 minutes later at State College Regional Airport in Pennsylvania.