FBI Director Kash Patel is as soon as once more dealing with criticism, this time for a visit to the 2026 Olympics. Footage of him celebrating with the gold medal-winning U.S. males’s hockey workforce has fueled accusations that Patel used authorities sources to attend the Milan Cortina Games and misled the general public concerning the nature of the journey.
Patel defends partying with males’s hockey workforce after gold medal win
After the U.S. males’s Olympic hockey workforce defeated Canada to win a gold medal, the primary time the U.S. males’s hockey workforce has gained the highest Olympic prize since 1980, footage of the workforce celebrating included a shock look by Patel. In a video of the workforce’s celebration, Patel could be seen rowdily cheering, singing and seemingly chugging beer with the hockey gamers of their locker room.
While it was beforehand publicized that Patel had traveled to Italy whereas the nation hosted the Winter Olympic Games, the FBI director had portrayed the journey as an official go to associated to safety for the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Patel downplayed the hockey celebration video.
“For the very involved media – sure, I really like America and was extraordinarily humbled when my buddies, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to rejoice this historic second with the boys,” Patel wrote in a publish on X, previously Twitter.
Nonetheless, the distinction between Patel’s portrayal of the journey and that of different conservatives and the pictures of partying with athletes have led to accusations of dishonesty.
“Why did your workforce constantly lie about your journey?” liberal information group MeidasTouch posted in response.
Growing criticisms of Patel’s management, spending
Patel has been criticized for utilizing his place to push President Donald Trump’s agenda, together with the dealing with of the Jeffrey Epstein case and the firing of FBI personnel for seemingly political causes. He has additionally come beneath scrutiny for utilizing taxpayer-funded resources in ways in which some have deemed extreme, inappropriate and hypocritical. These embody offering a safety element, together with SWAT members, for his girlfriend, nation singer Alexis Wilkins. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee began a probe of Patel’s spending final 12 months, noting that he had taken an FBI jet for seemingly non-public journeys. Under present safety laws, FBI administrators are required to make use of the company’s jet however should reimburse the federal government for the price of journeys based mostly on the business charge of the flights. House Democrats criticized Patel for utilizing the jet for private excursions reminiscent of a looking retreat, a {golfing} journey, and “an in a single day date along with your girlfriend,” as Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., accused him.
Patel’s use of the jet is especially notable provided that he beforehand criticized then-FBI Director Christopher Wray for related bills; Patel stated on his podcast in 2023 that the federal government ought to “floor Chris Wray’s non-public jet that he pays for with taxpayer {dollars} to hop across the nation. You take away the flamboyant new fleet of automobiles from DOJ that they’re going to make use of to shuffle round executives.”
In distinction to his earlier criticism, Patel has allegedly used the $60 million FBI jet for journeys reminiscent of a flight to Pennsylvania to observe Wilkins sing the nationwide anthem at a Pennsylvania State University wrestling occasion.
https://twitter.com/AlexisWilkins/status/1982557569693659397/photo/2
The photographs of Patel partying with hockey gamers have solely added to criticisms that he’s residing a jet-setting way of life by way of using FBI sources. Given his previous statements about reining in such taxpayer-funded journeys for FBI administrators, Patel’s journeys will probably proceed to attract criticism and requires oversight regarding his use of presidency sources.
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