FBI Chief Patel's Travel Reportedly Compromises Federal Investigations

(MENAFN) The Senate Judiciary Committee's leading Democrat has accused FBI Director Kash Patel of allowing personal travel and management choices to obstruct critical federal investigations, citing disclosures from a whistleblower, media reported Tuesday.

In a formal letter, Sen. Dick Durbin alleged that Patel engaged in what he characterized as "irresponsible joyriding" aboard FBI-operated aircraft — conduct the Illinois senator said directly jeopardized high-stakes law enforcement operations.

"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.

A credible source relayed to Durbin's staff that Patel had telegraphed his personal interests early in his leadership, allegedly telling field offices during a meeting last year: "If you have golf, hockey, fishing, or hunting and beautiful sights, you're going to see a lot of me."

Durbin said whistleblower accounts further revealed that Patel's control over Justice Department and FBI-designated aircraft had tangible consequences for prominent criminal cases.

In one particularly striking example, Durbin wrote that FBI pilots who had recently ferried Patel were grounded and unavailable to respond to the shooting of Charlie Kirk, having exhausted their maximum permitted flight hours under Federal Aviation Administration rest regulations.

"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.

The senator also pointed to a separate shooting at Brown University, alleging that responding agents arrived late due to Patel's operational choices — specifically, his decision to place the FBI Hostage Rescue Team on standby rather than deploy closer SWAT units stationed in New York and Boston.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson forcefully denied the accusations, noting that the Brown University incident had initially fallen under state jurisdiction.

"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 X, the US social media platform.

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