Kash Patel’s bizarre, lavish outings are becoming a serious problem for the FBI

FBI Director Kash Patel is facing fresh scrutiny after two new reports revealed he participated in a “VIP” snorkeling excursion in Hawaii and traveled aboard an FBI jet to attend a luxury country music concert outing with his girlfriend. The episodes are deepening concerns about his use of government resources and the increasingly celebrity-inflected culture surrounding his leadership of the bureau.

Patel has spent recent weeks battling allegations about excessive drinking, retaliatory investigations, and erratic management inside the FBI while simultaneously trying to consolidate control over an agency President Donald Trump has long portrayed as politically compromised.

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According to an Associated Press investigation published Friday, Patel took part in what internal government emails described as a “VIP snorkel” near the USS Arizona Memorial during an official trip to Hawaii last summer. The memorial sits above the wreckage of the battleship destroyed during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and serves as the final resting place for more than 900 sailors and Marines killed that day.

The AP reported that Navy officials coordinated the outing and briefed participants on the site's solemn significance and the rules governing the protected area.

The controversy intensified hours later after another report detailed Patel’s use of an FBI Gulfstream V jet to travel with his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia for a George Strait and Chris Stapleton concert at Lincoln Financial Field.

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According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the pair attended the show from a luxury suite valued between $35,000 and $50,000, then returned to Virginia aboard the FBI aircraft.

An FBI spokesperson told reporters Wilkins attended as “an invited guest” of the performers. Officials did not publicly explain who paid for the suite.

Taken separately, each story might have registered as another unusual footnote in an already unconventional tenure. Together, though, they reinforce a broader pattern of behavior that has increasingly defined Patel’s leadership.

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Patel has already drawn headlines for appearing in the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey locker room in Milan during a celebratory beer chugging moment after the team’s victory, as well as for reports concerning extensive security accommodations tied to Wilkins. Earlier reporting by The Atlantic also alleged that Patel’s leadership has been marked by heavy drinking, staff turmoil, and unexplained absences from headquarters. Patel has denied those allegations and filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the magazine and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick.

During a contentious Senate hearing last week, Patel dismissed the drinking allegations as “a total farce” and accused critics of weaponizing anonymous sourcing to undermine him politically.