Kash Patel's Own Vow to 'Ground' FBI Planes Haunts Him Amid Probe Into Luxury Jet Trips to Girlfriend

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel's engagement to country singer Alexis Wilkins has thrust a taxpayer-funded jet controversy back into view, renewing attention to the congressional probe into his personal flights and his own 2023 demand to ground a predecessor's government plane.

Patel's 2023 Call To Ground a Jet

Two years before taking the FBI's top job, Patel built part of his public brand attacking former director Chris Wray for personal use of the bureau's aircraft.

On his 'Kash's Corner' podcast in 2023, he said the government should 'ground Chris Wray's private jet that he pays for with taxpayer dollars to hop around the country'.

On Glenn Beck's show the next year, he mocked the roughly $15,000 (£11,000) cost of each take-off. In a 2023 social media post, he branded Wray a 'government gangster' for jetting off on the public's money. MSNBC later stitched his old complaints into a supercut as the new controversy spread.

The $60 Million Date Night

Those words read differently now. The scrutiny began in October 2025, when a conservative former FBI agent flagged flight logs, and Wilkins posted photos of herself with Patel at a Real American Freestyle wrestling event at Penn State, where she sang the national anthem.

Records traced the FBI's $60 million (£44 million) Gulfstream jet to the airport nearest the stadium, then on to Nashville, where Wilkins lives, that evening. The plane's registered owner is listed as FBI headquarters in Washington. Public flight logs had also tied the aircraft to trips to Las Vegas and Nashville in March 2025.

Flights While the Shutdown Bit

House Judiciary Committee Democrats launched a probe on 1 December 2025, led by ranking member Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California.

Their letter accused Patel of having 'commandeered' government aircraft for personal trips, including the Penn State outing and a four-day stay at Boondoggle Ranch in San Angelo, Texas, hosted by Republican mega-donor Bubba Saulsbury.

The lawmakers stressed that the Texas trip fell during the 2025 government shutdown, when rank-and-file FBI staff were working without guaranteed pay.

As minority members, the two Democrats cannot subpoena the records and could only request Patel's flight logs and passenger communications.

Firings and a Blocked Flight Tracker

After the flights drew attention, FlightAware stopped publicly tracking the plane at the request of the owner/operator, and Patel dismissed Steven Palmer, a 27-year veteran who oversaw the bureau's air fleet, after Bloomberg Law reported that Patel was angered by coverage of his personal travel.

Patel has also faced criticism over reports that Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) agents were assigned to Wilkins' security, a protection that sources said they had not seen given to a top FBI official's girlfriend.

Patel has rejected the criticism as politically motivated, telling Fox News he has flown less than his two predecessors and is 'entitled to a personal life'. He has also claimed to be the only director to release his travel records

Executive branch policy requires directors to use government aircraft for security reasons, reimbursing only the price of a commercial coach ticket, far below the jet's true operating cost.

The engagement, announced on 4 October with Wilkins joking that she 'went and got the law involved', ensures the questions about who funds the couple's travel will not fade.