Thursday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” chronic Trump administration critic Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) claimed “all the evidence” they had indicated that FBI Director Kash Patel was misusing taxpayer funds.
Cooper asked, “So, Congressman, you obviously been a frequent critic of director Patel. How confident are you that Senator Grassley, who’s been a staunch ally of President Trump, is committed to getting to the bottom of who is paying for what when it comes to the director’s personal travel?”
Raskin said, “Well, he sent a letter back on May 6th. We’ve been demanding answers to this set of problems for several months. All the evidence that we have indicates that, the taxpayers are footing the bill for junkets and splurges, and special recreational experiences for the FBI director. And now we know that there is serious bipartisan concern. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Grassley is demanding answers. And Senator Durbin, who’s the ranking member over on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote a letter with me today demanding an accounting. Now, look, the FBI director is supposed to travel on an official plane, even if he’s taking a personal trip. But it seems pretty clear to the whole world that that was a personal recreational trip when he went out to see his beloved, American Olympic hockey team play, and we saw him chugging the beers and partying with the boys. This. He said he should pay for that trip. You know, he’s talking about grounding an airplane. The FBI director used on official business for $15,000, that trip to Milan cost more than $100,000.”
He added, “So we want to make sure that he has written a check to the taxpayers to reimburse us for that. Because we don’t pay for VIP snorkeling. We don’t pay for jet skiing. We’re not paying for luxury travel. That’s not what we’re in it for. And it’s obviously a massive diversion and distraction from the real work of the FBI.”
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