Kash Patel chugged beers with Team USA and flew there on a government jet, and Trump is reportedly furious about both

FBI Director Kash Patel is facing backlash from President Trump after his trip to the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Trump reportedly told Patel directly that he was unhappy about two things: a viral video of Patel celebrating in the U.S. men’s hockey team’s locker room, and his use of a government jet to fly to Italy.

A video, first published by ProPublica, showed Patel chugging a beer and banging on a table while celebrating with the U.S. team after their gold medal win against Canada. It was the team’s first gold medal since 1980. Trump, who does not drink, was reportedly displeased by the scene.

According to NBC News, Trump was also unhappy about Patel using an FBI jet to travel to Milan. This is not the first time Patel has faced criticism for using government aircraft, making it a repeated point of concern.

Patel’s Italy trip is drawing serious legal and political scrutiny

Patel defended the trip, saying it was not just for the Olympics and that he met with Italian law enforcement and U.S. agencies handling security for the event. Patel posted on X: “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.”

You can read more about how Patel responded to the Milan crisis as it unfolded. The trip also overlapped with a security incident at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where an armed man entered the security perimeter. Trump was not present at the time, but Patel’s absence added to the criticism surrounding his travel.

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, a senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate what he called Patel’s “misuse or mismanagement of government resources.”

The group Democracy Defenders Fund also filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records of Patel’s “official, personal, and political meetings” in Italy, and whether he “accepted any gifts including free attendance at the men’s hockey final.”

In other recent developments, the FBI under Patel reportedly fired at least 10 employees this week who were linked to the 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which uncovered classified documents and led to federal cases against Trump that were later dismissed.

Critics have also raised concerns about Patel using taxpayer money for the Italy trip while major cases were piling up back home. Patel also recently revealed that his own phone records were obtained during the Trump investigations.

Despite the reported tension, the White House is publicly supporting Patel. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson pointed to falling crime rates, saying: “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 added that “The President has full confidence in his Administration.”