WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was disappointed by FBI Director Kash Patel’s behavior at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and expressed his disgust in an interview with him, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Patel went public with his locker room celebration with the US men’s hockey team after its win over Canada on Sunday – the first time a US team has taken home gold since 1980. In a video first posted by ProPublica, Patel, an avid hockey fan, was seen chugging a beer and banging a table, while shouting in celebration.
Trump — who doesn’t drink — told Patel he was unhappy not only with that time, but also with Patel’s use of a government jet for a trip to Milan, Italy, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The FBI declined to comment on whether Trump was upset about Patel.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the crime rate is “going down across the country.”
“This is a direct result of the President’s law and order program being successfully implemented by his legal team, including FBI Director Kash Patel,” he said. “The President fully trusts his administration.”
Patel’s trip to Italy coincided with the shooting of a gunman who entered the secure compound of the president’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. Trump was not there at the time.
Patel has maintained that he was on an official visit to Italy not only for the Olympics but also to meet with Italian law enforcement, as well as US agencies providing security for the international event.
“To the most concerned media – yes, I love America and I was very humbled when my friends, who just won the Gold Medal on Team USA, invited me to the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the guys- The greatest country in the world and the greatest sport in the world,” Patel wrote on X after the video of the locker room was posted.
Patel has faced scrutiny for his use of an FBI plane in the past. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on the Justice Department’s inspector general to “investigate Director Patel’s misuse or mismanagement of government resources.”
This week, the FBI, at the behest of Patel, fired at least 10 employees connected 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 indictments against Trump; both ended up being fired. Patel also revealed this week that his “toll” records were obtained during the Trump investigation.
On Friday, the group Democracy Defenders Fund filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any material related to Patel’s “official, personal, and political meetings” while in Italy.
The request, first obtained by NBC News, asks for materials that may “shed light on Kash Patel’s use of government resources, including government flights, to facilitate his attendance at the 2026 Olympics and whether he accepted any gifts including free travel to the men’s hockey finals.”
