With the Trump administration reeling over bombshell emails from the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein that mentioned President Donald Trump spending time with one of his victims, FBI Director Kash Patel suddenly took to the White House briefing room podium — to talk about something completely unrelated.
The neophyte director of the country’s top federal law enforcement agency — who has been beset by reports detailing his frequent use of government-funded jets — took the lectern to justify the latest of those jaunts: a private jet run to the People’s Republic of China.
Patel told reporters the visit to Beijing was to meet with his Chinese counterpart for a discussion about Beijing imposing a ban on the manufacture of precursor chemicals used to make the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
“While we at … the Department of Justice have been fighting hard to seize and stop drug traffickers, we must attack fentanyl precursors, the ingredients necessary to make this lethal drug. That was the sole purpose of my trip to China to eliminate these precursors,” Patel said.
“This was the first time an FBI director has been to China in over a decade and received the audience with his counterpart to address this matter directly, and again, thanks to President Trump's direct engage with President Xi, the government of China committed fully to my engagement there on the ground in Beijing at a level never seen before.”
Patel added that Beijing has now “fully designated and listed all 13 precursors utilized to make fentanyl” and agreed to what he described as further “control” of “seven chemical subsidiaries that are also utilized to produce this lethal drug, effective immediately.”
“These substances are now banned, and they will no longer be utilized by the Mexican drug trafficking organizations … to make this drug,” he said.
After further describing the agreement as a “historic first” and offering effusive praise for the president, Patel quickly left the briefing room before any reporter could ask him about his travel to China — or anything else.
The FBI director’s surprise abbreviated visit to the press briefing room came just hours after the Wall Street Journal reported that Justice Department officials have become “frustrated” by his frequent use of the bureau’s Gulfstream jet for personal travel.
While Patel is required by law to use the government aircraft and reimburses the government at a predetermined rate for each flight, he has often used the jet to attend high-profile sporting events, travel between Washington and his Las Vegas home, and to visit his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins.
The Journal found Patel has made at least nine trips to Las Vegas since being sworn in this past February and an additional seven to Nashville, where Wilkins lives.
While Patel has defended his use of the Justice Department’s Gulfstream, he previously excoriated his predecessor, Christopher Wray, for using the same jet for personal travel.
During a September 2023 podcast appearance, he lashed out the man he’d replace in just under two years.
“Chris Wray, hey, you don’t need a government-funded G5 jet so you can fly off to the Adirondacks for vacation,” he said.
