Kash Patel Olympics: FBI Director Defends Locker-Room Celebration as Scrutiny of Travel Intensifies
FBI Director Kash Patel has defended his presence in the U. S. men's hockey team's Milan locker room after footage showed him celebrating the team's victory over Canada, and he said he was "extremely humbled" to join players. The kash patel olympics appearance has renewed questions about the director's recent use of government aircraft and his travel schedule at a moment when the FBI was responding to a security breach at Mar-a-Lago.
Kash Patel Olympics locker-room celebration
Video of the Winter Olympics celebration shows Patel drinking a beer, spraying part of the bottle in the locker room and cheering with players after Team USA beat Canada to win the gold medal — the country's first Olympic hockey gold since 1980. One player placed a gold medal around Patel's neck and he joined the team jumping up and down in celebration on Sunday. Patel later posted on X that he 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" and added, "Yes, I love America. "
Mar-a-Lago shooting and FBI response
Shortly before the locker-room footage surfaced, Patel had posted that the FBI was "dedicating all necessary resources" to investigate how an armed man tried to enter President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The alleged intruder was fatally shot by U. S. Secret Service agents after breaching the resort's secure perimeter. The trip to Italy took place while the Department of Justice — under which the FBI is the main investigative agency — was handling that investigation.
Flight records, government plane use and itinerary
Public flight data show Patel took a government plane last Thursday from Joint Base Andrews near Washington, D. C., to a U. S. Air Force base in Italy. The FBI denied that Patel was on a personal trip, saying the travel was planned months ago and that the agency had a major role in Olympic security; Patel was meeting Italian law enforcement officials and the U. S. ambassador to Italy. An FBI spokesman had said in the days leading up to the game that the director's trip to Milan was primarily for professional purposes and that Patel posted work-related photographs of meetings with European security officials.
Political backlash and public criticism
Reaction was swift. Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado called the trip "grift and corruption, " posting, "Your taxpayer dollars funding the FBI director's Italian vacation. " Former Justice Department spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa posted, "our FBI Director thinks he's a frat bro. " The White House communications director Steven Cheung defended Patel, saying "Kash was also in Italy meeting with regional partners and security teams" and telling a reporter, "don't be mad because America won. "
Past travel, investigations and wider agency scrutiny
Patel has previously come under scrutiny for using FBI aircraft. Last November he reportedly used the FBI's plane to fly to Pennsylvania to see his country music singer girlfriend Alexis Wilkins perform. In October, Patel traveled to State College, Pennsylvania, for a pro wrestling event where Wilkins performed the national anthem; photos posted by Wilkins show the couple side-by-side and her holding an oversized golden championship belt. Congressional Democrats said in December they were investigating reports that Patel flew on an FBI jet to a hunting resort in Texas and on a golfing trip in Scotland. The director has also criticized his predecessor, Christopher Wray, for use of the agency jet. Questions have focused in part on Patel's use of the government Gulfstream G550 for flights around the country with no clear law enforcement purpose.
Other pressures on the FBI and unresolved context
Patel's trip coincided with additional demands on the agency. The Department of State issued a shelter-in-place warning on Sunday for American citizens in parts of Mexico after unrest following the killing of a local drug cartel leader by authorities. The FBI is also assisting in the search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie, who has been missing for more than three weeks. Congressional Democrats are also pressing other administration figures about aircraft use, seeking answers from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about a department contract for upgraded jets. The context contains an incomplete sentence about Patel's prior role as a podcaster — unclear in the provided context.
What makes this notable is the convergence of high-profile international security duties and a highly visible celebratory moment that amplifies questions about resource use and the norms governing the director's travel. The episode has produced at least three concrete timelines or actions — the government flight last Thursday from Joint Base Andrews, the FBI's allocation of resources to the Mar-a-Lago probe, and ongoing congressional inquiries into travel in December — all of which have driven the public and political response.
