FBI Director Kash Patel’s lavish spending spree on taxpayer-funded job perks has become too much even for one leading Republican lawmaker.
Patel has been widely condemned by Democrats and other critics for using a private FBI plane to fly across the country on personal trips, as well as making the bureau buy a fleet of flashy armored BMWs so he didn’t have to ride around in the Chevrolet Suburbans typically used by FBI directors.
Patel, a former MAGA podcaster with no prior experience in law enforcement, has also been found making diva requests on official work trips, including demanding meetings take place during soccer matches or other fun activities such as jet skiing and helicopter tours.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley has now written to Patel asking that Patel, 46, provide information to the House and Senate Judiciary committees, which have been scrutinizing his spending, MS NOW reported.
“For each trip where you used an FBI aircraft for personal travel, have you reimbursed the FBI as required by law? If yes, please provide the records,” Grassley, 92, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote.
While Grassley acknowledged that it is standard policy for an FBI director to use the agency’s private jet—even for personal travel—he said there has been so much scrutiny surrounding Patel that Congress needs to conduct an “independent and objective review.”
Grassley also demanded that Patel “please explain why you decided to purchase BMW vehicles instead of Chevy Suburbans.”
The embattled Patel faced waves of criticism last year after he was found to have used an FBI jet to watch his country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, 27, perform at a wrestling event in Pennsylvania.
Patel also used the jet to visit Wilkins for date nights in her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.
It has been reported that Patel assigned a security detail for Wilkins, who, on more than one occasion, asked agents to drive one of her inebriated friends home after partying in Nashville.
In December, MS NOW reported that Patel ordered the FBI to purchase several BMW X5s for the director’s use, believing they would be “less conspicuous” than the traditional Chevrolet Suburbans.
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson defended the purchase of the high-end BMWs at the time, insisting they were a cheaper option than the cost of necessary upgrades to the bureau’s fleet of four Chevrolet Suburbans.
In their own letter to Patel, the ranking Democrats on the Judiciary committees—Rep. Jamie Raskin and Sen. Richard Durbin—said they “appreciate Chairman Grassley raising these concerns, which mirror those raised repeatedly by House and Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats.”
The Democrats also cited another controversy involving Patel. The FBI director took part in a VIP snorkeling trip at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which commemorates those killed in the December 1941 Japanese attack.
Patel was supposed to be in Hawaii on official FBI business, just as he was when he was filmed downing beers with Team USA in Milan following its victory in the men’s Olympic hockey final in February 2026.
“Your lack of judiciousness regarding your personal travel and dubious use of official travel appear to violate not only government ethics law and Department of Justice policy, but also White House directives,” Durbin and Raskin wrote.
“Despite its myriad failures and hypocrisies on this point, the Trump Administration has expressly promised Americans that it would crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse of government spending and has reportedly directed officials to limit their travel, particularly overseas travel or travel unrelated to the president’s agenda.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the FBI for comment.
