'Troubling reports' point to Kash Patel having 'personal slush fund' of taxpayer dollars

A top House Democrat is accusing FBI Director Kash Patel of running a "personal slush fund" of taxpayer dollars to pay loyalist agents in his inner circle.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Patel — obtained exclusively by MS NOW — alleging the bureau chief has doled out more than $1 million in illegal "bonus" payments to agents on his personal detail and his Director's Advisory Team.

"We have been receiving troubling reports that you may be using part of the budget of the [FBI] as a personal slush fund to make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in unlawful 'bonus' payments to loyalist MAGA henchmen who have engaged in misconduct," Raskin wrote to Patel.

NOTUS reported in May that the Director's Advisory Team has been referred to internally as a "payback squad" tasked with building politically motivated cases — including one modeled on the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.

Raskin's letter says nearly $8,000 payments were made to multiple agents every two-week pay period — even for those already at the federal salary cap — "circumventing the mandatory maximum pay caps established by statute."

Some payments, the letter says, bounced back from exhausted accounts.

The letter also raises the question of why agents might need to be bought off. "It is not clear whether these bonus payments have simply been a corrupt attempt to slide cash to friends or whether they are also meant to ensure the silence of the agents who witness your inebriation and accompanying professional negligence and misconduct," Raskin wrote.

That's a reference to reporting by The Atlantic alleging Patel alarmed colleagues with excessive drinking and unexplained absences. Patel sued the magazine for $250 million; The Atlantic stands by its reporting.

The FBI did not respond to MS NOW's request for comment.

Minority Democrats have no power to compel the FBI to hand over documents — but could gain it if they retake the House in November.