Kash Patel Raises Eyebrows After Ditching the FBI’s Traditional Chevy Suburban for a Fleet of Armored BMWs

FBI Director Kash Patel is raising eyebrows after ordering a fleet of luxury armored BMW X5 models to replace the Chevrolet Suburbans usually driven by the bureau.

MS NOW investigative reporter Carol Leonnig called Patel’s move “gobsmacking” for FBI officials past and present.

“You know, armored BMWs have traditionally been used in really unusual places…like actual areas where war is close by in the front line, usually internationally,” Leonnig said. “There is no precedent for an FBI director to have an armored BMW, much less a fleet of them.”

She continued, “The government, typically the FBI, provides directors a fleet of Chevy Suburbans to get him safely from place to place with a detail and a driver. But in this case, Kash Patel ordered the purchase of four BMWs with this special armored plating around them.”

Sources told MS NOW that Patel “had pressed the FBI for this high-end vehicle for the purpose of being less conspicuous on his outings.”

FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told MS NOW that the bureau “planned to acquire updated vehicles and this choice was less expensive than others it considered.”

“Government agencies, including the FBI, routinely evaluate, replace and update vehicle fleets based on usage, security needs or budgetary decisions,” Williamson said.

The report said the State Department has a contract with BMW for the armored luxury SUVs “to protect diplomats and other officials in high-risk environments around the world. ”

In an article on the MS NOW website, Leonnig and Ken Dilanian wrote, “The BMW is the latest example of what many current and former officials see as the FBI director’s questionable use of the public’s dollars. Patel has also come under fire for taking personal trips on the FBI’s Gulfstream jet, which he says he is required to do pursuant to a government policy.”

Stacey Young, a former Justice Department official who founded Justice Connection — a network of former DOJ employees — told Leonnig and Dilanian that the BMW request is another example of Patel putting his public image ahead of concern for taxpayer resources, and called it “an embarrassment.”

Patel has said reports of him squandering taxpayer money are “nonsense” and called himself a “steward of the taxpayer dollars,” according to the report.

Watch the clip above via MS NOW.