A senior FBI official with 27 years of service has been fired following reports that Director Kash Patel used a government jet to visit his girlfriend, according to Bloomberg Law. Steven Palmer, who led the bureau's critical incident response group, was dismissed after Patel reportedly became furious over press coverage of the flight. Palmer oversaw the agency's fleet and major security threats, and is the third head of that unit to leave since Patel took office in February.
Flight logs show the jet N708JH landed near Penn State on 25 October, where Patel's girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, performed at a wrestling event, before flying on to Nashville. The tracking of N708JH on Flight Aware was later blocked. Patel subsequently reposted photos of himself and Wilkins on his X account. Bloomberg cited three unnamed sources expressing surprise at the sacking, noting the director's travel schedules were publicly available.
In a Sunday statement on X, Patel said he refused to be "distracted by baseless rumors or the noise from uninformed internet anarchists and the fake news". He condemned attacks on Wilkins as "disgustingly baseless" and criticised supposed allies for staying silent. His spokesperson, Ben Williamson, said Patel was required to reimburse some travel costs and had "significantly limited" personal trips compared with predecessors Chris Wray and James Comey.
Patel had previously been critical of Wray's use of government jets, labelling him "#GovernmentGangster" in 2023. Palmer's dismissal follows those of Wes Wheeler in March and Brian Driscoll in August; Driscoll is suing the Trump administration for unfair dismissal. The travel was first highlighted by Kyle Seraphin, a former FBI agent who noted the trip occurred during the 32nd day of a government shutdown.
Separately, Patel faces criticism from a Michigan defence lawyer, Amir Makled, who represents one of five men arrested on allegations of planning a Halloween terror attack. Makled said that after reviewing the case, he was convinced no such plot existed.
