FBI Director Kash Patel Faces New Controversies Over Personal Trips

FBI director Kash Patel is unfazed by the new controversies over his past trips, where he allegedly mixed work with pleasure on the FBI's money. A new report claimed that when Patel took a work tour across the South Pacific last summer, he stopped at Hawaii and went on a 'VIP snorkel' at one of the military's most sacret sites -- the underwater tomb of the USS Arizona that holds the remains of more than 900 Navy sailors who died at Pearl Harbor. Patel swam in the vicinity of the tomb for 30 minutes, according to Navy records. There were nine people, along with Patel, on the snorkeling. VIP tours near the Arizona are common but there is no public record available on how many VIPs are allowed to snorkel. They were also told not to touch the sunken ship in any way. The FBI said that top regional commanders hosted Patel at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam “as they commonly do with US government officials on official travel.” The Pearl Harbor visit, the spokesman said, “was part of the Director’s public national security engagements last August with counterparts in New Zealand, Australia, our Honolulu Field Office, and the Department of War.” “It’s like having a bachelor party at a church. It’s hallowed ground,” Hack Albertson, a Marine veteran, told AP News. “It needs to be treated with the solemnity it deserves.” Another of Patel's private trips has now been reported where Patel went to Philadelphia to attend a country music concert with his girlfriend Alexis Wilkins. They arrived on a Gulfstream V government jet and were spotted in a private suite that rented for above $35,000. They saw the show from their private suite. NYT said FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson said Winkins was an invited guest to that event. Patel appears unfazed by the onslaught of controversies and spate of rumors that he has upset President Trump. The FBI director posted about the agency's success in bringing Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, an Iraqi terrorist, to the US to face justice.