FBI Director Kash Patel defended his celebration with the US men's hockey team after they won the Winter Olympics gold medal. Photo / @Kash_Patel
FBI director Kash Patel is defending himself after videos showed him drinking and partying with the US men’s hockey team at the Olympics, during a weekend in which several emergencies unfolded for the law enforcement bureau.
As clips of Patel raucously celebrating with Team USA went viral on Sunday night (local time), Patel took to social media to say the men’s hockey team had invited him into the locker room to celebrate with them after they clinched the gold medal in an overtime victory over 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 – Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth,” Patel, an avid hockey fan, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
In one video shared by a ProPublica reporter, Patel appears to be chugging a beer, spraying the bottle’s contents about the locker room and ecstatically pumping his fists, as the team breaks out in a rendition of Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American), a country anthem about American defiance written after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Another video showed Patel flashing a shaka, or “hang ten,” sign next to team centre Dylan Larkin as both mug for the camera. In yet another video – reshared by an FBI spokesman – Patel holds a phone out as President Donald Trump, apparently on speakerphone, invites the team to the White House and says he will also have to invite the gold-medal-winning US women’s hockey team or “be impeached”.
“I’m on it,” Patel tells Trump. “I’m f****** on it.”
The videos prompted public criticism of Patel and questions about his judgment during a critical time for the bureau. Hours earlier, an armed man was fatally shot by US Secret Service agents and a sheriff’s deputy after he breached the secure perimeter of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Patel had promised from his official X account that the FBI, the lead agency investigating the incident, was “dedicating all necessary resources” to the matter.
The FBI is also still involved in a high-profile search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, who remains missing after more than three weeks. US intelligence agencies also warned American citizens in Mexico to shelter in place amid a wave of violence across that country after “El Mencho”, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was killed by Mexican security forces on Sunday (local time).
“There was a threat at the president’s residence at MAL, Americans in Mexico are facing major threats by cartel members, Nancy Guthrie is still missing, and our FBI Director thinks he’s a frat bro?!” Xochitl Hinojosa, a former Justice Department spokeswoman under the Biden Administration, wrote on X.
Several others resurfaced a clip of Patel in 2023 criticising then-FBI director Christopher A. Wray for using a government jet for personal travel.
“Maybe we ground that plane. [Or charge him] $15,000 every time it takes off. Just a thought,” Patel said then.
FBI representatives have steadfastly defended Patel’s trip to Italy and denied he used the FBI’s taxpayer-funded Gulfstream jet for personal travel, for which Democrats have investigated him in the past. In the days leading up to the Olympics men’s hockey final, FBI spokesman Ben Williamson clashed with several news outlets that had reported Patel had used the government jet to fly to Italy with plans to attend hockey games at the Olympics.
Williamson said on Thursday (local time) on X that Patel’s trip had been planned months ago and would include meetings with Italian law enforcement and other security officials.
“The FBI also has a major role in Olympic security ... so we have a US consulate briefing on Olympic security and current FBI posture, as well as thanking FBI personnel on the ground,” Williamson added then.
Williamson also said “any personal portion [of the trip] would be reimbursed,” according to an email to MS NOW that he posted on Sunday (local time).
Representatives for the FBI declined a request for additional comment on Monday (local time), including on whether Patel’s attendance at Olympic events would be considered personal travel and, if so, how much Patel would reimburse the bureau.
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