Kash Patel faces scrutiny over snorkeling outing at USS Arizona memorial in Hawaii | Hawaii

FBI Director Kash Patel is under new investigation following reports that he took part in a snorkeling excursion around the USS Arizona during a trip to Hawaii last summer.

The outing was first reported this week by The Associated Press, which obtained government emails describing the excursion as a “VIP snorkel” around the USS Arizona — the site that houses the remains of more than 1,000 U.S. Navy sailors and Marines who died at Pearl Harbor in 1941.

According to the AP, the outing was coordinated by the military and took place in August during a two-day stopover in Hawaii as Patel was returning to the United States after official visits to Australia and New Zealand. Patel had also stopped in Hawaii earlier in the trip and visited the FBI field office in Honolulu.

On Friday, The New York Times also reported that nine other people joined Patel on the visit, and the Navy confirmed to the Times that the FBI director swam near the grave for 30 minutes.

When asked for comment, the FBI referred the Guardian to a statement released earlier this week in response to the AP’s initial report, in which an FBI spokesperson accused the outlet of “attempting to pass off an invitation from the commanding general of [the Indo-Pacific Command] going to a military base to party or vacation, which is so stupid.”

The spokesperson added that the Defense Department “regularly hosts these engagements with interagency partners” and said that when Patel was Defense Department chief of staff in the first Trump administration, he “proposed the same event to many partners who came to visit.”

“This is a historic tour to honor the heroes who died aboard the USS Arizona – not a party,” the spokesperson added.

The FBI also said in a statement to the AP that senior regional commanders greeted Patel at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam “as they usually do with U.S. government officials on official trips.”

The office added that the Pearl Harbor visit “was part of the Director’s public national security engagements last August with his counterparts in New Zealand, Australia, our Honolulu Field Office, and the Department of War.”

The FBI also said in a statement to the Times that Patel was invited to Pearl Harbor by Admiral Samuel J Paparo Jr, who is the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command.

Navy and Department of Defense officials told the Times that VIP “tours” near the USS Arizona were common, although they reportedly declined to specify how often they took people snorkeling. The Navy spokesperson also reportedly refused to identify the nine people who joined Patel on the trip.

In a statement to the Guardian on Saturday, a navy spokesperson said the navy regularly partners with local leaders to “welcome distinguished visitors” and confirmed that Patel’s visit lasted 30 minutes.

“All participants received a comprehensive safety briefing for the evolution to include medical plans and standing rules for swimming near (but not above) the USS Arizona,” the spokesperson said, adding that participants were also informed not to “touch/come into contact with the USS Arizona in any way.”

The filing, they added, “also covers the historical significance of the memorial as the final resting place/grave of hundreds of military personnel and that everyone should treat the site with the respect and dignity it deserves.”

According to the AP, marine archaeologists and National Park Service crews occasionally dive at the memorial to monitor the condition of the wreck, and other dives have been conducted to bury the remains of surviving members of the USS Arizona crew.

The outlet also reported that, since at least the Obama administration, a limited number of military and government officials connected to the memorial’s management have been allowed to swim at the site. A former government diver told the outlet that past participants have included Navy admirals, secretaries of Defense and secretaries of the Interior, and that the tours were intended to provide them with an overview of the memorial and its operations.

Over the years, former FBI directors have visited Pearl Harbor on official business, but according to the AP, none of them, going back at least to 1993, have snorkeled at the memorial.

In a CNN interview this week, former FBI Director James Comey was asked about reports of Patel’s snorkelling trip.

“Did you say snorkeling?” » asked Comey. “I visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial with the admiral in charge of the Pacific Command on a Navy boat, I never went in the water, so I don’t know, I think when you’re director of the FBI you have a responsibility to represent not only yourself but 38,000 people and an idea, an American idea that is respected around the world and it’s a burden, you’re always on duty, you’re always being watched, and I’ve always known that.”

Reports of Patel’s trip to Hawaii come as Patel has already faced scrutiny in recent months for mixing leisure travel with official business.