Democrats slam Kash Patel over FBI team's lavish bonuses
Source: Courthouse News Service
June 16, 2026
WASHINGTON (CN) — FBI Director Kash Patel oversaw $1 million in bonus payments to a group of top agents serving on an executive advisory committee in possible violation of federal law, a senior House Democrat claimed on Tuesday. And the side payments, which appeared to exceed legal pay caps for government employees, were reportedly so frequent that they drained FBI reserve accounts dedicated to bonus awards.
In a letter to Patel dated Tuesday, Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin claimed that he’d been presented with evidence that the FBI director issued the bonus payments to a group of special agents serving on his Director’s Advisory Team, an internal committee organized last year that media reports have said is in the process of building a case against political enemies of President Donald Trump.
According to Raskin, the FBI has made roughly $8,000 payments to “multiple individuals” every two weeks on at least five separate occasions, a figure that totals roughly $40,000 per agent. And while the lawmaker said it was unclear exactly how much money each agent on the advisory committee received, the sum of payments totaled nearly $1 million.
The bonuses, Raskin added, appeared to sidestep government regulations capping the salaries of certain federal employees. “By issuing these side payments, your office may be knowingly breaking federal law,” he told Patel.
Read more: https://courthousenews.com/democrats-slam-kash-patel-over-fbi-teams-lavish-bonuses/
Link to House Judiciary Committee Democrats' PRESS RELEASE - Ranking Member Raskin Launches Investigation Into Kash Patel’s Misuse of FBI Funds for Unlawful Bonus Payments to Inner Circle
Link to LETTER (inquiry) (PDF) - https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-06-15-raskin-to-patel-fbi-re-bonuses.pdf
OF INTEREST (from the request)
Your actions in firing agents like Mr. Driscoll, Mr. Jensen, Mr. Giardina, and Mr. Palmer,
along with dozens of other consummate FBI professionals, are a scandal. That scandal is now
deepened by your apparent practice of systematically rewarding lackeys and sycophants with
illegal cash bonuses beyond federal salary caps. Federal money appropriated for the FBI’s
budget does not constitute a slush fund for you to reward agents to keep your abuses of power
carefully hidden from view. To fully inform our ongoing investigation of waste, fraud, and civil
and criminal abuse, please provide the following to the Committee no later than 5:00 p.m. on
June 29, 2026:
1. A full account of all bonuses, awards, or other payments made in addition to any
FBI agent or employee’s salary, including but not limited to the amount awarded,
who it was awarded to, and who authorized the award;
2. All documentation, including internal communications, regarding such bonuses,
awards, or other payments;
3. A full list of individuals who serve or have served on your Director Advisory
Team and their specific compensation, shown by pay period, over the last five
years; and
4. All communications regarding the legality of award, settlement, or bonus
payments issued by the FBI, including any memos or records indicating these
payments might violate federal law.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
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