WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was disappointed in FBI Director Kash Patel’s behavior at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and conveyed his displeasure in a conversation with him, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Patel went viral for his locker-room celebration with the U.S. men’s hockey team after its win against Canada on Sunday — the first time the U.S. team took home gold since 1980. In a video that was first posted by ProPublica, Patel, an avid hockey fan, could be seen chugging a beer and banging on a table, while yelling in an exuberant display of celebration.
Trump — who does not drink — told Patel he was unhappy not only with that scene, but also with Patel’s use of government aircraft for the trip to Milan, Italy, according to the person familiar with the matter.
The FBI declined to comment on whether Trump was upset with Patel.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson touted crime rates “dropping across the board.”
“This is a direct result of the President’s law and order agenda which is being successfully implemented by his law and order team, including FBI Director Kash Patel,” she said. “The President has full confidence in his Administration.”
Patel’s trip to Italy coincided with the shooting of an armed man who entered the security perimeter of the president’s residence in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. Trump was not there at the time.
Patel maintained that he was on an official trip in Italy not just for the Olympics but also to meet Italian law enforcement, as well as U.S. agencies providing security at the international event.
“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 wrote on X after the locker-room video was posted.
Patel has faced scrutiny for his use of the FBI jet in the past. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to “investigate Director Patel’s misuse or mismanagement of government resources.”
This week, the FBI, at the direction of Patel, fired at least 10 employees linked to the 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, according to three people familiar with the matter. That search turned up classified documents and led to one of two federal cases against Trump; both were eventually dismissed. Patel also disclosed this week that his own cellphone “toll” records had been obtained in the course of the Trump investigations.
On Friday, the group Democracy Defenders Fund filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any material on Patel’s “official, personal, and political meetings” while in Italy.
The request, first obtained by NBC News, asks for materials that could “shed light on Kash Patel’s use of government resources, including government aircraft, to facilitate his attendance at the 2026 Olympics and whether he accepted any gifts including free attendance at the men’s hockey final.”
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