Senate Democrats have asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to review FBI Director Kash Patel Personal trips on government planesAccording to GAO and Congressional sources.
The review will look at Patel's use of the FBI's private jet fleet and the approach of each director since the GAO last studied the issue in 2013. Investigators from Congress regulators are expected to examine Patel's flight records to determine the purpose of his trip, how much the bureau has spent and whether Patel reimbursed the government for personal trips.
Last week, both CBS News and the New York Times reported internal issues within the FBI about the extent to which Patel used government aircraft for personal reasons, including visiting his girlfriend and traveling to hockey games and other sports events.
When asked about the investigation, the FBI declined to comment.
Executive department policy requires FBI directors to use government aircraft for air travel, whether official or personal. This allows them to maintain secure communication access anywhere they travel and move quickly in emergencies. They must reimburse the government for personal flights at the coach fare rate. Directors are allowed to take their family or friends for personal trips, but the cost of the trip must also be reimbursed to the government.
The FBI did not share Patel's flight schedule, citing officials refused to confirm his presence on many flights to destinations that matched his appearance at the same location. For example, in the first week of April, the 757 Boeings rented by the Justice Department took two round-trip flights to and from New York.
On April 5, the narrow jet flew to Stewart International Airport in a 57-minute flight, short from the western point, and Patel participated in a charity hockey game hosted by the FBI. The next day, 757 returned to Kennedy Airport, Patel appeared in the box seat next to the hockey legend, hours before Wayne Gretzky watched Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin break the NHL scoring record.
Patel apparently also used the FBI's Gulfstream five jets to head to Las Vegas where he had home, and then went to Nashville, where Nashville country singer Patel's girlfriend lived. Sources familiar with Patel's trip confirmed to CBS News that the director had several trips captured by public flight trackers on March 7 in Las Vegas and held a weekend in Nashville on March 24.
In some cases, Patel appears to be traveling for business and entertainment. The FBI jet flew from Washington, D.C. to Nashville on March 21. That day, Patel attended a roundtable with state and local law enforcement departments and also visited the FBI's field office. The plane returned to Washington later that afternoon. It is not clear whether Patel has also visited his girlfriend Alexis Wilkins.
"The Judiciary Committee must investigate the directors of Patel's apparent abuse of taxpayer dollars," Democrat Senator Dick Durbin said in a statement to CBS News after Patel's travel model was publicly released last week.
A spokesman for Senate Judiciary Committee Republican Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley did not answer questions about whether the committee would investigate whether Patel used FBI aircraft for personal travel.
It is at the discretion of the Directors to use government aircraft for personal travel and for specific purposes. In 2013, the GAO last investigated FBI aircraft for "non-loss" purposes and detailed the frequency at which directors and attorney general can also use aircraft, which can also use aircraft. While investigations rarely have wrongdoing, the report warns against excessive use of aircraft for personal travel.
Diana Maurer, director of GAO and author of the 2013 report, told CBS News that the same principle still makes sense today when the government watchdog conducted a review.
"I don't know what the current FBI director did or didn't do," Moore said in an interview. "But just because you're allowed to do something doesn't mean you must have done it."
She noted that operating government aircraft costs much more than commercial flights and officials should not abuse their privileges at the expense of taxpayers.
"I hope the FBI and the Justice Department are considering the impact on taxpayers when directors use government aircraft for non-misunderstanding purposes," Morel said in an interview.
In recent years, the use between Congress and the Bureau has been made between FBI aircraft for personal travel. when Christopher WrayPatel's former runs the FBI, and his personal use of executive aircraft became a focus for Republicans on Capitol Hill and conservative critics.
Wray was shot for flying back and forth from Washington to his hometown of Atlanta, where his family maintained their shelter. (Wray refused criticism at the time, noting that he was a "traveler who needed to use" and that in any case, he used the plane for personal purposes.)
Wray also received criticism from Republican lawmakers and some former FBI agents, calling the G5S from a 15-mile flight Manassas to Reagan National Airport instead of being driven 30 miles to Virginia Airport where the FBI maintained the hangar.
Patel himself is a voice critic of Wray's use of FBI aircraft for personal travel. Two years ago, on his podcast "Kash's Corner," he warned the FBI to "Chris Wray's private jets that he used taxpayer money to jump out of the country." Now, he has replaced the top of the FBI, and he keeps his mom attitude towards the fleet he uses the agency's private jet for your personal use.