Trump told FBI Director Kash Patel he didn’t like his Olympics hijinks
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was disappointed by FBI Director Kash Patel’s behavior during the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and expressed his displeasure in a conversation with him, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Patel went viral during his locker room celebration with the United States men’s hockey team following their victory over Canada on Sunday — the first time the U.S. team had won gold since 1980. In a video first published by ProPublica, Patel, a hockey fan, could be seen drinking a beer and banging on a table, while shouting in an exuberant display of celebration.
Trump — who doesn’t drink — told Patel he was upset not only about that scene, but also about Patel’s use of a government plane for the trip to Milan, Italy, according to the person familiar with the matter.
The FBI declined to say whether Trump was angry with Patel.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson touted crime rates “down across the board.”
“This is a direct result of the President’s law and order agenda 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 a gunman who entered the security perimeter of the presidential residence in Florida’s Mar-a-Lago. Trump was not there at the time.
Patel claimed he was on an official trip to Italy not only for the Olympics, but also to meet with Italian law enforcement, as well as U.S. agencies providing security at the international event.
“To the very concerned media – yes, I love America and was extremely touched when my friends, the new gold medalists of Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys – the greatest country in the world and the greatest sport in the world,” 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, asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to “investigate Director Patel’s misuse or mismanagement of government resources.”
This week, the FBI, under Patel’s leadership, 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 revealed classified documents and led to one of two federal prosecutions of Trump; both were ultimately fired. Patel also revealed this week that his own cellphone “toll” recordings were obtained during the Trump investigations.
On Friday, the group Democracy Defenders Fund filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any records of Patel’s “official, personal and political meetings” during his stay in Italy.
The request, first obtained by NBC News, asks for documents that could “shed light on Kash Patel’s use of government resources, including government aircraft, to facilitate his participation in the 2026 Olympics and whether he accepted gifts, including free attendance at the men’s hockey final.”
