Copyright Staten Island Advance
An official with over two decades of FBI experience has been fired after FBI Director Kash Patel grew “enraged” by stories revealing he used a government jet to fly to see his girlfriend sing the national anthem at a sporting event. Steven Palmer, who had worked at the bureau since 1998, was fired as head of the FBI’s critical incident response group, which is responsible for handling major security threats as well as overseeing the agency’s fleet of jets, according to The Guardian. Patel was angered last week after social media posts and news stories called attention to his use of an FBI jet, according to Bloomberg Law. The jet arrived in State College, Pennsylvania, where Patel’s girlfriend, country music artist Alexis Wilkins, sang the national anthem at a wrestling match. Patel’s jet logs were publicly available and his schedule was traceable through online services, according to Bloomberg. He posted pictures of himself with Wilkins at the event on his X account. People familiar with the situation did not understand why Patel might have blamed Palmer, according to Bloomberg. FBI directors are required to use government aircraft for personal or business travel to maintain secure communications, Bloomberg said. But Patel’s travel to the wrestling match using a taxpayer-funded aircraft was criticized by some online. Patel himself previously criticized predecessors for personal travel on taxpayer-funded jets, according to Bloomberg. The FBI chief’s spokesman, Ben Williamson, said all the headlines criticizing Patel were “disingenuous and dumb,” according to the New York Post. FBI directors must use government planes to ensure secure travel, with the chiefs ordered to pay reimbursements for personal trips, the Post said.
