FBI Director Kash Patel has been demanding special perks from bureau employees during his taxpayer-funded travels throughout the country, including helicopter tours and jet ski excursions, according to whistleblower accounts given to Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary committees and obtained exclusively by MS NOW.

But the Democrats are not alone in their concerns about Patel’s use of public resources; MS NOW has also viewed a letter to Patel from Republican Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley demanding that Patel turn over information about his flights on FBI aircraft and about the FBI’s purchase of BMW vehicles, which was first reported in December by MS NOW.

“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,” the Grassley letter says.

Grassley acknowledged that FBI policy requires the director to fly in the FBI jet even when traveling for personal reasons, but he said Congress deserves an accounting of the director’s use of FBI aircraft to conduct an “independent and objective review.”

Grassley, who has consistently defended Patel publicly, asked the director in the letter to “please explain why you decided to purchase BMW vehicles instead of Chevy Suburbans.”

MS NOW reported in December that Patel directed the FBI to purchase several BMW x5 SUVs for the director’s use despite a long-standing policy of purchasing Chevrolet Suburban SUVs for that purpose. Patel’s spokesman said at the time that the move saved the government money, but he declined to release documents substantiating that claim.

In their own letter, Rep. Jamie Raskin and Sen. Richard Durbin said that they “appreciate Chairman Grassley raising these concerns, which mirror those raised repeatedly by House and Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats.”

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment by MS NOW.

The letter from Democrats references an incident last summer, when Patel was allowed by the military to take a VIP snorkeling trip in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, around the wreckage of the USS Arizona, where 1,177 sailors and Marines died during the Japanese attack in 1941. That excursion was first reported by The Associated Press and confirmed by Patel’s spokesman, who defended it as “a historical tour to honor heroes who died” on the sunken aircraft carrier.

“Your VIP snorkeling experience in Hawaii was not an isolated incident,” Raskin and Durbin wrote. “You frequently demand special perks on ‘official’ trips around the globe, such as a taxpayer-funded helicopter tour during your multi-country jaunt across East Asia and other recreational activities like jet skiing.”

They add, “Your jet-setting and the lack of justification for these trips are ‘out of control,’ and the new attaché office you established in Wellington, New Zealand, may have been opened in part to justify a sightseeing trip you took there.”

Patel traveled to Australia and New Zealand last summer, with a stop in Hawaii. He jetted to Italy over the winter, where he watched the U.S. men’s hockey team win the gold medal, and he chugged a beer during the locker room celebrations just afterward.  He has also made official trips paired with personal outings to watch his country singer girlfriend perform in concert, as well as to attend hockey games and UFC events.

The Democrats said they have been told that Patel “demoted personnel in Brussels because they failed to ensure you were adequately entertained, stoking fear among rank-and-file agents that they must provide your demanded perks or face termination. Concerns and strains prompted by the prioritization of your personal entertainment on international trips may have led to the resignation of the head of the FBI’s international operations this year.” They did not provide further details.

The Democrats recounted in their letter what a source told them about something Patel was overheard saying to field office personnel in a meeting last year: “If you have golf, hockey, fishing, or hunting and beautiful sights, you’re going to see a lot of me.”

“This is not the conduct of a committed and faithful public servant, especially one entrusted with ensuring the safety of almost 350 million Americans,” the Democrats wrote.

They added: “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.”

“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,” they wrote.

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