FBI
FBI Director kash patelTrump’s “irresponsible trip” on FBI planes could be about to take a nosedive.
On Tuesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for an investigation into Patel after a credible whistleblower said Patel’s “excessive misuse” of office planes has led to delays in the agency’s response to high-profile emergencies, such as the Brown University Shooting and The murder of Charlie Kirk last year.
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Durbin noted that the whistleblower provided the information after Patel used the FBI’s Gulfstream plane to fly to Milan, Italy, to Drinking beer with the US men’s hockey team and create pretty nasty social media content at the Winter Olympic Games.
Regarding Kirk’s death during an event at Utah Valley University in September 2025, the whistleblower alleges that the FBI shooting reconstruction team was delayed by at least a day because there was a shortage of pilots and planes “caused by the director’s personal flights,” according to Durbin.
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During the Brown University shooting in December, which killed two people and wounded nine, Patel was reportedly in South Florida visiting his elderly parents, said an FBI official familiar with Patel’s trip. EM NOW. The outlet reports that the only other available plane had been put on standby for another FBI team that would not normally respond to the scene of a mass shooting. Instead, a team had to drive overnight through a snowstorm from Virginia to the University of Rhode Island, arriving at 9 a.m. the next morning to process the tests immediately, according to the whistleblower.
An FBI spokesperson disputed the whistleblower’s claims about the Brown University shooting to MS NOW, saying it was initially a “state-led homicide investigation. The FBI played an assisting role until later.” The representative added that evidence response agents from the FBI’s Boston field office were on the scene about two hours after the shooting.
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Durbin sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office and the Justice Department’s Inspector General on Tuesday, calling for an investigation into Patel’s hindering of the agency’s ability to conduct critical investigative tasks.
“Since his confirmation as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kash Patel has apparently engaged in what amounts to irresponsible travel on aircraft operated by the DOJ and the FBI at the expense of the American taxpayer and to the detriment of the Bureau’s ongoing operations,” Durbin wrote.
This is not the first time Patel’s personal use of FBI planes has been questioned. Last year, he drew attention for using the office jet traveling to Pennsylvania to see his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, perform at a wrestling event.
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