Watchdog group calls for federal investigation into Apache flyby at Kid Rock’s house

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – An independent oversight group is calling for a federal investigation into the military helicopter flyby at the home of Nashville-based entertainer Kid Rock.

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday there would be no investigation into the crews’ actions and lifted their suspensions, even after a Fort Campbell official confirmed an investigation and announced disciplinary measures. (The military had initially launched an internal review and suspended the four crew members involved, stating that the stop at Kid Rock’s home was not part of a planned training mission).

But the flyby is drawing new scrutiny, not from the Army this time, but from a government ethics watchdog group, which is now asking for the Pentagon’s Inspector General to step in.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a formal complaint to ask the Department of Defense inspector general to investigate Sec. Hegseth’s decision to reverse Army personnel’s suspension, whether or not the flyby violated federal rules, and how much taxpayer money was spent.

“Hegseth’s choice to undermine the investigative process and potential discipline for apparently political reasons is especially dangerous as American military personnel are engaged in hostilities abroad,” the complaint states.

CREW is asking for answers to multiple questions, including:

How DoD officials came to know the location of Kid Rock’s home and toarrange to fly near his property when he was present;

Which DoD officials were involved in the decision to fly a military helicopterover a political protest and to Kid Rock’s home;

Whether those involved sought prior clearance to take these actions;

Whether those involved sought or received any ethics advice about the matter;

What official purpose the flights were intended to serve;

How the ultimate flight plan related to that purpose;

How much money the use of the military helicopter for these purposes costthe American taxpayers.

“This is one of the rare situations where even the president has questions, and this is why we thought it was important for the inspector general, who’s independent of the secretary, to take a look at what happened, because it’s really dangerous to have political leadership at DOD overruling disciplinary decisions made by folks within the chain of command,” explained Donald Sherman with CREW.

CREW’s request could bring a separate, independent review of what happened, even after Sec. Hegseth closed the case.

Kid Rock, whose government name is Robert Ritchie, posted videos of the visit on social media Saturday. The video shows Kid Rock clapping and saluting the helicopters from his “Southern White House,” which is perched on a ridge overlooking Whites Creek. One helicopter hovers near Kid Rock’s infinity pool while the second swoops across the sky behind it.

In addition, the AH-65 Apache helicopters flew over the No Kings protest in downtown Nashville.

On Monday, Kid Rock told Nexstar’s WKRN he wasn’t overly concerned about any actions against the Apache crews.

“I think they’re gonna be all right, my buddy’s commander in chief. I mean, what are they looking into? They stopped for, I don’t know, seconds, a minute, you know, maybe they were here three, four minutes, you know, just say, ‘What’s up’ and went on,” he said.

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