Almost every time that FBI Director Christopher Wray wants to make use of the bureau’s $60 million Gulfstream G550, he normally summons it over to the nearby Reagan National Airport instead of just driving the 30 miles over to the regional airport where it is normally housed, highlighted a whistleblower recently, putting on blast the high priced habit which has been funded by U.S. taxpayers.
Records that were made public recently show that the jet carried out the short 15-minute flight between its hangar at Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia and Washington, D.C., area airports a total of 140 times since 2020. The whistleblower this particular time is a currently suspended FBI agent, who recently stated that the local trips are being used as a method for Wray, and possibly a number of other bureau leaders, to save time in regard to the normally 45-minute trip out to and from Manassas on either end of their flights.
“The FBI jet is being used, I believe, in a grossly mismanaged way,” expressed FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, who just last year was issued a suspension from his work with the FBI. “Chris Wray has a jet fly from Manassas, Virginia, to Reagan National Airport, because he doesn’t want to sit in traffic.”
Agents assigned to security details within the bureau explained to Seraphin that the Gulfstream jet has been ferrying around Wray, who moves all around D.C. via a motorcade of three black Chevrolet Suburbans, out of Reagan National for quite some time, possibly since he was confirmed by Congressional members as the FBI director in 2017.
Out of the 140 trips carried out between Manassas and larger regional airports, a total of 123 were just going to or from Reagan National, which is marked as the closest major airport to the Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters of the bureau. Nine of the flights were either from or to Dulles International Airport, close to 26 miles outside of the area of downtown Washington, and a total of five flights saw Baltimore–Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. A pair of remaining flights were said to land at certain locations within the capital of the nation.
“[Wray] does it simply because he doesn’t want to be inconvenienced by traffic on I-66,” stated Seraphin succinctly.
The FBI released its own statement on the issue.
“The FBI is not going to comment on specific plane locations because of operational and security sensitivities,” exclaimed the Bureau in a statement. “The FBI Director’s use of FBI aircraft is long-established and continues due to the mission needs of the FBI and the FBI Director’s security requirements.”