The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday that FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal travel and management decisions have interfered with major investigations, citing information from a whistleblower, according to The Hill.
Sen. Dick Durbin said in a letter that Patel engaged in what he described as “irresponsible joyriding” on FBI-operated aircraft that compromised high-stakes investigations.
“The Director’s personal leisure activities and travel bucket list should not dictate work travel, nor should it have a material impact on the Bureau’s time-sensitive operations and investigations,” Durbin wrote.
Durbin said a credible source told his staff that Patel signaled his priorities early in his tenure, quoting him as saying during a meeting with field offices last year: “If you have golf, hockey, fishing, or hunting and beautiful sights, you’re going to see a lot of me.”
The Illinois senator said whistleblower disclosures indicate the director’s decisions regarding Justice Department or FBI-controlled aircraft negatively affected high-profile criminal cases.
In one instance, Durbin wrote that FBI pilots who had transported Patel were unable to respond to the shooting of Charlie Kirk because they had reached their maximum allowable flight hours under Federal Aviation Administration rest requirements.
“In the immediate aftermath of the murder of Charlie Kirk, the FBI’s shooting reconstruction team was asked to fly to Utah to aid the investigation and process the scene. However, the team’s deployment was delayed by at least a day because of a Bureau plane and pilot shortage caused by the Director’s personal flights,” Durbin wrote.
Durbin also cited a shooting at Brown University, saying agents’ delayed arrival was linked to Patel’s operational decisions. According to Durbin, Patel chose to place the FBI Hostage Rescue Team on standby instead of relying on nearby SWAT units in New York and Boston.
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson rejected the allegations, saying the Brown University shooting was initially a state-led investigation.
“There would not be a situation where the FBI delayed or couldn’t send resources because of Director travel, especially in this case,” Williamson wrote on the US social media company X.
ANEWS
About the Author
