F.B.I. Director Kash Patel, an avid hockey fan, is once again fending off criticisms for muddying the line between his personal interests and his professional duties.
In videos shared with reporters, Patel was seen celebrating with the U.S. men’s hockey team in the locker room after their Olympic gold medal win. Patel appears in the videos to be drinking beer, wearing a gold medal, and dancing and singing with the team.
Patel’s trip to Milan, Italy, coincided with a number of high-profile security events over the weekend. Law enforcement officers shot dead an armed man at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s residence in Florida, on Sunday, the Secret Service said, anticipating an investigation that involves the F.B.I. Patel himself posted news of the intrusion on X shortly before his celebration, noting that the bureau is “dedicating all necessary resources” to the investigation.
At the same time, Trump is weighing strikes on Iran which may have implications for national security, and drug kingpin “El Mencho” was killed in a Mexican military raid on Sunday that used U.S. intelligence and led the State Department to issue a “shelter in place” alert for U.S. citizens in parts of Mexico. And while F.B.I. investigators searched for Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, Patel sat in a box in the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, watching the game against Canada.
“For the very concerned media – yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys,” Patel posted on X on Sunday night. “Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth.”
Patel had already come under scrutiny after reports that he flew to watch the 2026 Winter Olympic Games on a Justice Department jet. Spokesperson Ben Williamson later defended the use of the plane in a post on X. “No, it’s not a personal trip. Director Patel is on a trip that was planned months ago” that includes meetings with Italian law enforcement and officials and managing the F.B.I.’s “major role in Olympic security, Williamson said.
“Kash just called me and told me to add “Please tell them yes, I am rooting for the greatest team on earth from the greatest country on earth. Go Team USA,” Williamson added in a second post on Thursday.
In December, congressional Democrats launched a probe into Patel’s use of government resources seemingly for personal reasons, including reports that he used a private F.B.I. plane to travel to Pennsylvania to watch his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, perform at a wrestling match. According to Bloomberg Law, a senior official overseeing aviation was forced out of the bureau shortly after the revelations, although Patel’s flight schedule is publicly available.
In a November post on X after reports of his trip to the wrestling event, Patel said, “Let me be clear: we will not be distracted by baseless rumors or the noise from uninformed internet anarchists and the fake news. … I and this FBI will stay laser-focused on our mission and continue the reform we promised — rebuilding this Bureau from the ground up.”
Democrats also accused Patel of using the government plane for a “date night” in Tennessee, to a private hunting in Texas, and to a golf resort in Scotland, as well as of taking steps to hide the F.B.I. plane from open-source flight tracker Flight Aware. The bureau director has also been criticized for ordering a new fleet of BMWs, which the agency said saved on costs, and providing SWAT team protection for his girlfriend.
“Mr. Patel, these planes are not yours. They are the property of the U.S. Government and paid for by the American people. You have come to embody the corruption the American people despise,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D, Md.), the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D, Calif.) wrote in a Dec. 1 letter.
F.B.I. directors are required to travel on government aircraft for both official and personal trips so as to have access to secure communications. They are also required to reimburse the government for personal flights at coach fare rates.
Williamson said in an Oct. 30 post that F.B.I. directors are “mandated by Congress to travel on a government plane even on personal travel,” and that “this FBI has taken steps to dramatically reduce costs of Director travel, both official and personal. For example, when Kash flies, he chooses to take a government airfield vs. airports like DCA, because the government option is about 2.5x cheaper.”Patel previously criticized the F.B.I. over its use of taxpayer money to fund travel. On an episode of his podcast “Kash’s Corner” in 2023, he argued that Congress should limit funding for the F.B.I. to force it to turn over subpoenaed documents: “You ground [former F.B.I. Director] Chris Wray’s private jet that he pays for with taxpayer dollars to hop around the country. You take away the fancy new fleet of cars from DOJ that they’re going to use to shuffle around executives.”
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