Sen. Dick Durbin is escalating his campaign against FBI Director Kash Patel, sharing new whistleblower allegations on Tuesday that accuse Patel of commandeering the bureau's jet for personal leisure travel and making operational decisions that allegedly hampered FBI responses to active incidents.
The Illinois Democrat, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent the allegations to supplement an existing review he requested from the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Justice inspector general. The letter paints a picture of a director who treats the FBI's aircraft like a personal charter service, jetting off to destinations that happen to feature golf courses, hockey rinks, and scenic views.
If this sounds familiar, it should. Democrats have run this playbook before. And the details, once you get past Durbin's breathless framing, tell a considerably less damning story than the senator wants you to believe.
According to The Hill, Durbin's central charge is that Patel has used FBI aircraft for trips that blur the line between official business and personal enjoyment. According to a "credible source" relayed by Durbin, Patel allegedly told field offices last year:
"If you have golf, hockey, fishing, or hunting and beautiful sights, you're going to see a lot of me."
The quote, assuming it's real, is the kind of thing that plays terribly in a press release and sounds perfectly normal in an informal meeting with field offices. A director telling subordinates he plans to visit them in person, including in places that aren't coastal bureaucratic hubs, is not the scandal Durbin thinks it is.
Then there's Italy. Patel traveled there around the 2026 Winter Olympics, and Durbin accuses the FBI of issuing misleading statements about the trip's purpose. FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson stated on February 21, 2026, that the director did not go to Italy "to hang out at the Olympics on the taxpayer dime." Durbin counters that by February 22, Patel was seen celebrating with the gold medal-winning U.S. Men's Olympic Hockey Team, citing Patel's "own admission and video accounts." Durbin's letter notes that Patel was spotted "chugging beers, singing a Toby Keith song, and partying" with the team.
Here's what Durbin conveniently breezes past: the FBI has a significant role in Olympic security. Williamson described the trip as one "planned months ago alongside regional partners," with the bureau playing its standard role in protecting Americans abroad at a major international event. The fact that the director attended a celebratory moment with American athletes after what was presumably a grueling security operation is not evidence of misconduct. It's evidence that he was there.
The more serious allegation involves operational decisions. Durbin claims that during a shooting at Brown University, Patel determined that the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team should be placed on standby rather than deploying closer SWAT teams based in New York and Boston. According to the letter, this decision "froze the aircraft's usage by any other FBI team," forcing responders to drive overnight to arrive on the scene to process evidence.
Williamson pushed back hard on this, posting on X:
"There would not be a situation where the FBI delayed or couldn't send resources because of Director travel, especially in this case."
He added that Patel "always offers the plane if needed anyway" when traveling and did so in this instance. It simply wasn't needed.
Durbin himself undermined his own argument on this point, writing that "all the SWAT teams in the region would have been aware of the Brown University shooting and ready to respond if needed." If regional teams were aware and ready, then the decision about the Hostage Rescue Team's posture is a tactical judgment call, not a cover-up for personal travel.
Notice what Durbin did there. He alleged the decision "froze" resources and "hindered" FBI operations, then acknowledged in the same letter that regional teams were positioned and ready. The accusation refutes itself.
Durbin raised concerns about whether Patel is "complying with applicable regulations and reimbursement requirements for non-mission-related travel." This sounds ominous until you remember the underlying policy: FBI directors are required to use official aircraft for personal travel for security reasons. They reimburse the government at the cost of an equivalent commercial flight.
Durbin cited no evidence that Patel has failed to reimburse. No dollar amounts. No specific instances of non-compliance. He simply gestured at the possibility that internal controls might be insufficient, which is the legislative equivalent of saying "I have no evidence, but someone should look into it."
This is a request for an investigation dressed up as a finding. There's a difference.
What makes this entire episode rich is the context Durbin would prefer to omit. Patel was one of the most vocal critics of his predecessor, Christopher Wray, and routinely questioned Wray's travel on the FBI jet. Democrats defended Wray's travel at the time. Now those same Democrats have discovered a deep and abiding concern about executive air travel.
The principle didn't change. The person in the seat did.
Durbin's letter relies on anonymous whistleblowers whose identities are shielded, characterizations that lean heavily on loaded language like "irresponsible joyriding," and a timeline that conveniently omits exculpatory details. Williamson addressed the Kirk shooting claims as well, calling them "more egregious" than the other allegations, and stated plainly that Patel was on official travel that day. Regarding the September dates Durbin referenced, Williamson noted Patel was in Washington on September 10 and in New York for the 9/11 ceremonies the following day.
"Kash was in DC on 9/10 and in New York the next day for the 9/11 ceremonies – not personal travel. Durbin and whoever he's speaking to are full of it."
Durbin's play here is straightforward: build a paper trail of allegations, feed them to sympathetic outlets, and create the impression of scandal through volume rather than substance. The GAO and inspector general reviews will proceed. If they find genuine misconduct, that will matter. If they don't, Durbin will have already moved on to the next accusation.
This is the oversight-as-opposition model that Democrats perfected during the first Trump term. Request an investigation. Cite the existence of the investigation as evidence of wrongdoing. Repeat.
The FBI spokesperson declined to respond to a formal request for comment but addressed every specific claim publicly on X. That's a choice Durbin probably didn't expect. It's harder to control the narrative when the other side responds in real time, point by point, in front of the same audience.
Patel's critics wanted a director who would shake up the bureau. Now they're upset that he doesn't travel like a bureaucrat. The man went to Italy for Olympic security, cheered on American athletes, and visited field offices in parts of the country that aren't Washington, D.C. If that's the best Durbin can muster from his anonymous sources, the FBI director is doing just fine.