On May 10, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel and his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, flew from Washington to Philadelphia on the FBI's Gulfstream V jet to watch George Strait and Chris Stapleton perform at Lincoln Financial Field. They watched the concert from a private suite that sold for between $35,000 and $50,000.
The New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer reported the trip on May 16, 2026. When the Times asked Patel who paid for the suite, he declined to answer. The FBI instead said Wilkins had been 'an invited guest' of the performers, but representatives for Strait and Stapleton did not confirm that to the Times. The Inquirer reported that Patel 'declined to respond to the Times' questions about who financed the outing.'
The FBI flight crew and Patel's security detail remained on duty past 11 p.m., accruing overtime, while Patel watched the concert. A former senior FBI official estimated that Wilkins's full-time security detail, which the FBI provides citing death threats against her, costs approximately $1 million per year.
The Philadelphia trip is one of more than ten personal trips on the FBI jet that the Campaign Legal Center asked the DOJ Inspector General to investigate. As director, Patel had previously criticized predecessor Christopher Wray by saying, 'Chris Wray doesn't need a government-funded G5 jet to go to vacation.' The Inquirer noted Patel previously took the FBI jet to State College for a pro wrestling event at which Wilkins sang the national anthem.