FBI director invitations recent scrutiny over travels with look at US males’s hockey group celebration : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2154x1436+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F89%2Fc7%2F59e4c2f24c3d920c8784ce609062%2Fap26049599511260.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2154x1436+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F89%2Fc7%2F59e4c2f24c3d920c8784ce609062%2Fap26049599511260.jpg" class="img" alt="FILE - FBI director Kash Patel arrives before President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington." fetchpriority="high"/> FILE - FBI director Kash Patel arrives earlier than President Donald Trump speaks within the East Room of the White Home, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. Alex Brandon/AP disguise caption

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Alex Brandon/AP WASHINGTON — When the American males's hockey group retreated to their locker room to have a good time their Winter Olympics gold medal win, they had been joined by a particular visitor from the US: FBI Director Kash Patel.

For some supporters of the embattled regulation enforcement official, it was a patriotic, good-natured present of help for a group bringing residence the primary gold medal within the sport since 1980. For Patel's critics, although, it was one more questionable use of presidency sources by an FBI chief already going through scrutiny over his private travels aboard a authorities airplane.

An FBI spokesman had mentioned within the days main as much as the sport that Patel's journey to Milan through the Olympics was primarily for skilled functions, with the director posting on social media work-related pictures of his conferences with European safety officers. However the journey took a extra jocular flip Sunday when movies circulating on-line confirmed a pumped-up Patel, a hockey fan, consuming beer from a bottle and spraying the remainder across the locker room. After one of many gamers draped his gold medal round Patel's neck, he joined the gamers as they jumped up and down in celebration.

The episode deepened questions on Patel's private travels, a persistent storyline from the primary yr of his tenure not solely due to their frequency but in addition as a result of he had chastised his predecessor, Chris Wray, for his use of the FBI airplane. On this occasion, the Olympics celebration passed off as FBI officers had been investigating an armed man who was shot and killed by the U.S. Secret Service after he breached the safe perimeter of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

"The grift & corruption is unreal," Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado posted on X. "Your taxpayer {dollars} funding the FBI Director's Italian trip."

Patel responded to the criticism by posting on his private X account that "sure, I like America and was extraordinarily humbled when my associates, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Group USA, invited me into the locker room to have a good time this historic second with the boys."

The White Home signaled its backing for Patel, with communications director Steven Cheung writing on X that "Kash was additionally in Italy assembly with regional companions and safety groups" and telling a reporter "do not be mad as a result of America received."

An ongoing supply of criticism Patel is just not the one Trump administration determine to face questions on his use of presidency sources, with congressional Democrats additionally demanding solutions from Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem about her division's contract for upgraded jets.

However the FBI specifically has struggled to shake questions on Patel's travels on the federal government Gulfstream G550 for flights across the nation that don't have any recognized or obvious regulation enforcement goal. One instance got here in October when it emerged that Patel had traveled to State School, Pennsylvania, for a professional wrestling occasion, the place his longtime girlfriend, nation singer Alexis Wilkins, had carried out the nationwide anthem. Images posted to social media by Wilkins present the couple side-by-side and smiling for the digicam and her holding an outsized golden championship belt.

The journeys have come although as a bombastic podcaster through the Biden administration, Patel had repeatedly lambasted Wray for utilizing the FBI airplane for private travels and even recommended that the jet be grounded.

"I am simply saying Chris Wray does not want a government-funded G5 jet to go to holidays. Perhaps we floor that airplane. $15,000 each time it takes off. Only a thought," Patel mentioned in a single podcast interview.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson has defended Patel, noting that he's required for safety functions to make use of the bureau jet even for private journeys and constantly reimburses the federal government for personal travels.

"Kash himself has considerably restricted private journey — however he is allowed to take private time once in a while to see household, associates or his longtime girlfriend. He does not do it typically," Williamson posted on X in November. "He works way more full weekends than he does in any other case. And possibly most significantly — ask anybody who works for him, he is on obligation 24/7 regardless."

Even so, it is lengthy been a delicate challenge for the FBI and Justice Division. The division's inspector common, for example, final yr faulted a since-retired FBI assistant director for taking government-paid journeys to the official's "bucket listing" nations — journey that the watchdog mentioned did embody some skilled conferences but in addition consisted of days of seashore resort stays.

And in 1993, President Invoice Clinton fired then-FBI Director William Classes after a harshly vital report alleged that he had "abused authorities journey for private functions."

Patel, for his half, has mentioned he complies with all insurance policies, saying in a podcast interview in December that he travels "below the principles which were established by the prior 20 years of Congress, DOJ and FBI."

A raucous celebration The newest kerfuffle began final week with media protection indicating that Patel could be in Italy for the ultimate days of the Olympics.

Williamson responded to the studies by saying on social media that the journey was not private in nature, had been deliberate months in the past, would come with conferences with a cross-section of officers and was per the FBI's "main position" in Olympics safety.

As soon as in Italy, Patel posted footage of his go to to the Milan Joint Operations Heart, which he mentioned was charged with defending the safety of American athletes and all those that traveled to Milan for the Winter Video games. He additionally posted a photograph of his assembly with the U.S. ambassador to Italy.

He was in Italy on Sunday because the FBI, in the US, was investigating the intrusion at Mar-a-Lago and persevering with its seek for Nancy Guthrie, kidnapped from her Arizona residence weeks in the past. Different issues confronting American officers that day included an eruption of violence in Mexico and the potential of a Trump administration assault on Iran.

Whereas the hockey sport was nonetheless underway, Patel posted on X that the FBI was dedicating all essential sources to the Mar-a-Lago investigation.

Later within the day, movies surfaced exhibiting the FBI director, in a long-sleeve white USA shirt, partaking within the festive locker room celebration and holding out a cellphone as Trump speaks to the exuberant group. Patel, in the meantime, posted on his X account footage of himself with the group, together with one exhibiting him holding an unfurled American flag and one other within the locker room.

By Monday, he resumed extra of his normal work-related content material, sharing posts on social media about falling crime numbers.

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