Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked FBI Director Kash Patel to provide more details on his use of taxpayer resources in May, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Mid.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) revealed in a letter this week, as questions continue to swirl over Patel’s financial stewardship of the agency.
The embattled FBI director has long faced allegations that he is using the perks of his office for personal gain, after news outlets reported last year he used government jets for personal travel and surrounded his girlfriend, country music singer Alexis Wilkins, with SWAT team protection at public events.
Patel’s trip via agency jet to the Winter Olympics in Milan this February, in which he partied with the American men’s ice hockey team after they won gold, led to yet more questions.
Patel has repeatedly publicly denied that his use of government resources is inappropriate.
“This abuse obviously comes at the expense of the American taxpayer and ongoing Bureau operations as it ties up Bureau aircraft, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, and agents in ways so outrageous that even congressional Republicans can no longer ignore them,” Durbin and Raskin wrote in their letter.
In a letter from Grassley sent in May, which was viewed by POLITICO, he asked Patel to “provide a list of each flight you took on an FBI aircraft, including the departure and destination,” as well as the cost of each. He also asked Patel to explain why the bureau purchased BMWs rather than Chevy Suburbans for personal transport — and to provide a full cost breakdown of the financial impacts of the maneuver.
Raskin and Durbin — the ranking members on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees — are seeking answers to many of the same questions highlighted by Grassley, they wrote in their letter.
The eight-term Iowa senator, who turns 93 in September, emphasized he’d previously held FBI directors under Democratic administrations to similar scrutiny.
“For decades, regardless of which political party is in the White House, I have worked to ensure that taxpayer dollars are protected from waste, fraud, and abuse,” Grassley wrote.
Grassley’s office and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“The American people deserve an FBI Director focused on keeping us all safe rather than jet-setting to check off personal bucket list items,” Durbin and Raskin wrote. “Congress requires a transparent accounting of how you are using Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars.”
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