On Tuesday, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent Patel a letter saying the committee had learned that FBI staffers closest to Patel are receiving bonuses.
Accusing Patel of setting up a personal slush fund to buy off Trump-loyal MAGA henchmen, Raskin said Patel had tapped the FBI fund to hand out roughly $1 million in bonus payments to members of the FBI Director’s Advisory Group, as well as agents on Patel’s own security detail.
Raskin says FBI agents have been getting as much as $8,000 on top of their regular salary per pay period. So far, payments have gone out for five periods, which works out to about $40,000 per person.
Raskin accused Patel of using the payments to get around federal pay caps and compensate people above what federal law allows. He said so much money had been siphoned out of the FBI bonus fund that some checks had bounced.
The Democrat has asked Patel to turn over documents substantiating any payments and any correspondence about them. But with Democrats in the minority on the House Judiciary Committee, Raskin cannot compel Patel to hand over those documents without Republican buy-in.