Kash Patel's Gulfstream jet lands in Richmond the week of the White House summons

The flight also lands the same week House Judiciary Democrats, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, are pressing for all flight records tied to the jet, accusing Kash Patel of having “commandeered U.S. government aircraft for personal joyrides” — a charge that includes a reported Scottish golfing trip, a hunting retreat called “Boondoggle Ranch,” and a $1 million-plus flight to Milan for the Winter Olympics hockey final. The aircraft's recent tracks show a clear pattern: repeated hops between Joint Base Andrews, Manassas, and Richmond, with longer legs to the Midwest and East Coast — including a 2026-09-12 flight from Grand Rapids to the D.C. area — that line up with the director's known travel to see Wilkins perform and to visit family.

This is not the first time the jet has drawn attention. The G550, one of several Gulfstreams in the federal fleet, was pulled from public tracking databases after The Intercept and former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin published guides to following N708JH on ADS-B Exchange. The aircraft's owner, per federal policy, is required to reimburse the government at commercial rates for personal trips — a rule Kash Patel himself once cited when criticising predecessor Christopher Wray's use of a similar jet. The Richmond landing, coming as the White House reportedly loses patience, reads less like a scandal and more like a plane being kept close to the ground while the questions pile up.

For now, the aircraft sits at Richmond, a short hop from the capital and a world away from the headlines it has generated. Whether the director was aboard is a matter of speculation — the flight tracker only shows the plane, not the passenger. But if the timing is any guide, this is a jet that knows when to stay out of sight.