FBI Director Kash Patel was grilled by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Tuesday about his alleged personal use of a government plane — and he proceeded to defend himself without denying the allegations.
“Democrats are also, Mr. Director, supposedly going to investigate your use of the FBI jet,” said Ingraham. “Because they’re claiming you commandeered it for personal joy rides, going to a wrestling event, I guess, for your girlfriend. Is that true, and if so — if the Biden team did something like that, if it was true, I’d probably be hitting them tonight on television, but I thought I’d give you a chance to respond to that drive-by?”
“It’s simple,” said Patel. “The FBI director — all FBI directors are required users of the FBI plane. They don’t let me fly commercially. But my predecessors wasted millions of dollars because they were too lazy to drive an extra 20 minutes and go to Andrews Air Force Base; they used Reagan National as their personal hub, costing the taxpayer $4 million. I shut that policy off and mandated the use of government airfields. I’ve also used the airplane less than my prior two predecessors.”
“And yes, I’m entitled to a personal life just like my other agency head counterparts with their partners,” Patel continued. “So do I support my girlfriend? Absolutely. And I do take trips with her? Absolutely. But when they’re talking about raid jackets and velcro and FBI plane use, they are not talking about the facts, because they know this FBI is succeeding in ways prior leadership failed.”
Patel’s mention of “raid jackets and velcro” is a reference to another story alleging that when Patel visited the site of right-wing youth activist Charlie Kirk’s murder earlier this year, he refused to leave the plane until staff could find an FBI jacket for him to wear, which they had to get from the inventory of women’s jackets.
This comes amid separate reporting that Patel is privately “in over his head” and “paralyzed by fear” as he struggles to assert leadership over the FBI.
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