Kamal Ghorui
Fresh whistleblower claims have raised questions over whether FBI Director Kash Patel’s use of agency aircraft delayed the bureau’s response to major crime scenes, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk and a mass shooting at Brown University.Documents made public on Tuesday by Senator Dick Durbin claim that Kash Patel’s regular use of FBI planes meant response teams could not travel quickly when needed. Durbin said “credible whistleblowers” had raised concerns that the director’s travel choices interfered with FBI operations.Durbin said in a statement that the documents were given to the committee after Patel used an FBI plane to travel to Milan over the weekend. Patel went there to meet US personnel helping with Olympic security and attended the men’s hockey final, which the United States won 2-1 in overtime.“Since his confirmation as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kash Patel has seemingly engaged in what amounts to irresponsible joyriding on DOJ and FBI-operated aircraft at the expense of the American taxpayer and to the detriment of ongoing Bureau operations,” Durbin said.According to a letter Durbin sent on Tuesday, Patel’s use of one of the FBI’s two available planes affected the bureau’s evidence response team in December. The whistleblower said Patel used one plane to travel to South Florida and kept the other for a team that was not usually needed at the Brown University mass shooting. Because of this, the evidence response team did not have proper transport.The letter also said that another team was delayed by a day in reaching the scene of Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year “because of a Bureau plane and pilot shortage caused by the Director’s personal flights.”“The information provided by credible whistleblowers makes it clear that not only are the Director’s misuse and mismanagement of these aircraft problematic to taxpayers, they materially harm the mission of the very agency he has sworn to lead,” Durbin wrote.An FBI spokesperson, Ben Williamson, rejected the claims. He said Patel ensures aircraft are available when required. “If the Director happens to be out of town, he always offers the plane if needed anyway — and did so here,” Williamson said. He added: “It wasn’t needed.”An FBI official told MSNOW that Patel had been using the jet in December to visit his elderly parents. Property records reviewed by the outlet showed his parents live in South Florida.Patel has faced scrutiny over his travel since taking office, including trips to visit his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins.On social media, Durbin wrote, “Kash Patel went to hang out at the Olympics on the taxpayer dime. It’s irresponsible joyriding and a complete waste of our money. He should reimburse you. I’m investigating.”
