A political gambit by Senate Democrats backfired on Tuesday after Republican lawmakers clarified that FBI Director Kash Patel was following federal regulations when he used private jets for personal travel on multiple occasions.
Patel’s travel habits were highlighted in a recent New York Times article that suggested internal dysfunction within the FBI under his leadership. Citing anonymous sources, the report implied that Patel may have violated ethics rules by chartering a private jet to attend an NFL game, where he was seated next to Wayne Gretzky, and on another occasion to attend a UFC fight also attended by President Donald Trump.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Dick Durbin (D-IL), highlighted the Times article in a compelling social media post on Monday morning. “BREAKING: New reporting finds apparent misuse of government dollars by Kash Patel, using government resources to attend hockey games and a UFC match,” the committee’s social media account stated.
But according to the same Times story — and a fact check by Newsweek regarding then-FBI Director Christopher Wray — bureau bosses are required to use a government plane for all travel, including for personal use. The catch? They must reimburse the government for what it would normally cost to make the same trip using commercial flights. Newsweek noted:
A study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), published in 2013 on the Department of Justice’s “Executives’ Use of Aircraft for Nonmission purposes” details the travel arrangements for DOJ bosses. This detailed the circumstances and requirements for how top-level executives, including the FBI director, are meant to travel. According to the GAO, both the attorney general and the FBI director are “required use” travelers, who are obliged by executive brand policy to use government planes for all travel, including personal flights “because of security and communications needs.”
The report adds that while Wray, as FBI director, must use a government plane for personal travel, he must nevertheless also provide reimbursements for these kinds of trips. It states that the reimbursement amount is equivalent to the cost of a commercial fare and is “generally less than the cost of operating a government aircraft.”
According to the GAO, Robert Mueller, the FBI director at the time, took a total of 10 trips aboard FBI aircraft between 2007-2011 that required reimbursement, totaling $4,556 in commercial costs. The returned payment is then transferred to the Department of Treasury. The GAO report states that FBI directors previously had the discretion to choose whether to use a non-government plane for personal travel. That changed in 2011.
“FBI officials told us that in 2011, for reasons related to the Director’s need to access secure communication systems while traveling, DOJ made a policy change requiring the Director to use government aircraft for all of his travel, including personal travel,” it stated. “As a result, both the FBI Director and the Attorney General must now use government aircraft for all travel regardless of its purpose [emphasis added]. FBI officials told us this explains the differences in the use of FBI aircraft for personal reasons between the Attorney General and the FBI Director.”