Welch Caught Patel Using The FBI Jet He Once Demanded To Ground

Before becoming FBI Director, Kash Patel said it himself on his own podcast: "Chris Wray doesn't need a government-funded G5 jet to go to vacation. Maybe we ground that plane — $15,000 every time it takes off." Then Patel took the job. And started flying. UFC fights in Las Vegas with Mel Gibson. Hockey games in New York. The Winter Olympics in Milan. And in December 2025, while Patel was in south Florida with one of the FBI's two jets, a gunman opened fire at Brown University — and his evidence response team had no plane available. They drove through the night in a snowstorm. Senator Peter Welch brought all of it to the September 16th Senate Judiciary hearing and asked Patel to explain the gap between what he said and what he did. Patel's defense: Congress made it mandatory. Welch's response: "We didn't make it mandatory that you go to UFC games with Mel Gibson." In this video we break down the full exchange, the travel record, the Brown University whistleblower account, and exactly what Patel's own words cost him in that chamber. Subscribe and hit the bell — more from this hearing is coming.