Kash Patel: Did Kash Patel break the rules by using $60 million FBI jet to meet his girlfriend? What the agency said
“We’re in the middle of a government shutdown and they’re not even going to pay all the employees that work at the agency that this guy heads,” Seraphin said on Monday’s episode of The Kyle Seraphin Show. “So is this guy flying to hang out with his girlfriend in Nashville on our dime?” Seraphin accused the couple of “defrauding the American people.” “He flew a $60 million plane to hang out there. Is that disgusting to anyone else?” he said.
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What do flight records show?
Flight records show a Justice Department-registered plane departed Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia on October 25 and landed at State College Regional Airport in Pennsylvania about 40 minutes later, according to The Independent. About two and a half hours later, the same jet reportedly flew to Nashville, Tennessee, where Wilkins lived.
Patel, 45, attended the event with Wilkins, 26, who shared photos of the duo on social media. The event, which was co-founded by the late Hulk Hogan earlier this year, featured Wilkins performing a song as part of the wrestling program.
What did the FBI say?
But it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Kash Patel has come under fire for using FBI jets for personal reasons. This time we compare Kash Patel’s travels to his predecessors like Chris Wray and James Comey.
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“Kash’s personal travel is significantly limited, although he is occasionally allowed to take personal time to see family, friends, or his long-term girlfriend. He doesn’t do this often. He works much more on weekends than he normally does. And perhaps most importantly, ask anyone who works for him, he is on call 24/7, no matter what,” the statement said.
The FBI director was banned from flying on commercial airlines and was forced to use government planes for travel. According to the TOI report, FBI deputy director for public affairs Ben Williamson said that in accordance with official protocol, Director Kash Patel pre-paid for such trips.
Williamson explained that Patel had personally taken several steps to reduce costs. Instead of flying from airports like Washington DCA (Ronald Reagan National Airport), Patel prefers state airports, which are about 2.5 times cheaper. Williamson noted that former directors, including Chris Wray and James Comey, often used DCA.
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Earlier this year, former FBI counterintelligence chief Frank Figliuzzi claimed that Kash Patel spent more time in nightclubs than at FBI headquarters and no longer received daily briefings. Reports indicated that Patel was splitting his time between Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas, creating what insiders called “chaos” within the agency. Patel also received backlash for ordering lie detector tests to track down agents accused of leaking information; it was a move the FBI argued was necessary to protect domestic security.
