Trump 'Disappointed' at FBI Director Kash Patel After Viral Locker-Room Hijinks at the Winter Olympics

FBI Director Kash Patel's gold-medal moment with the US men's hockey team has gone sour, with President Donald Trump telling him directly that he was not pleased.

Patel flew to Milan on a government aircraft to attend the 2026 Winter Olympics at Milan-Cortina, ostensibly for meetings with Italian law enforcement and US security agencies. His trip took a very public turn on Sunday, Feb. 23, when a video, first posted by ProPublica reporter William Turton on X, showed Patel inside the US men's hockey locker room, chugging a beer and banging on a table as the newly crowned gold-medal winning team celebrated its first Olympic victory since 1980.

The footage went viral within hours. By Thursday, NBC News reported that Trump, a teetotaller who does not drink, had conveyed his displeasure to Patel in a direct conversation, citing both the locker-room scene and the use of a government jet to make the trip to Italy.

The Video, the Jet and the Timing

Patel's response to the viral footage was unapologetic. In a post on X after the video circulated, he wrote: '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.'

He separately noted that the Italy trip was official in nature, telling reporters his itinerary included meetings with Italian law enforcement and US agencies responsible for security at the Games.

The White House did not dispute the substance of NBC's reporting. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, in response to questions, said crime rates were 'dropping across the board' and that 'the President has full confidence in his Administration.' The statement made no direct reference to the locker-room incident or the jet. The FBI refused to comment on whether Trump was upset with Patel.

The timing of the trip drew immediate attention beyond the hockey celebration. While Patel was in Italy, an armed man entered the security perimeter of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday evening.

The man, who was alleged to be carrying a gas can and a shotgun, was shot and killed on the scene by law enforcement. Trump was not at the property at the time. Patel issued a statement from Italy saying the Bureau was 'dedicating all necessary resources' to the investigation and would work with federal and state partners, but critics pointed out the director was on another continent when the security breach happened.

Senate Democrats and the Whistleblower Disclosures

The political fallout extended well beyond the viral video. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, had already asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review Patel's aircraft use in May 2025. On Feb. 24, 2026, the day after the hockey celebration, Durbin wrote a follow-up letter to both the GAO and the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, attaching new disclosures from credible whistleblowers and formally requesting an OIG investigation.

The letter contained direct quotes from Bureau sources describing the operational consequences of Patel's travel decisions. According to a whistleblower cited by Durbin, Patel told a meeting of FBI field offices early in his tenure: 'If you have golf, hockey, fishing, or hunting and beautiful sights, you're going to see a lot of me.'

The disclosures described two specific investigations where the director's alleged misuse of FBI aircraft and pilots caused measurable delays. In the first, the FBI's shooting reconstruction team was asked to fly to Utah to help process the scene in the aftermath of the murder of Charlie Kirk. According to the whistleblower, the team's deployment was delayed by at least a day because of a plane and pilot shortage attributed to Patel's personal flights. FAA rules governing mandatory rest periods for pilots meant the team could not depart until those rest requirements were met.

The second case involved a shooting at Brown University on Dec. 13, 2025. Durbin's letter states that the shooting reconstruction team was prepared to fly immediately from Richmond, Virginia to process the scene, but was unable to do so because a Bureau aircraft was held. According to the whistleblower, Patel directed that the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, a specialised counterterrorism unit typically activated only for situations beyond SWAT capacity, be placed on standby.

The Boston Field Office, which has primary jurisdiction over Providence, Rhode Island, already has an enhanced SWAT team, as does the New York Field Office. Durbin's letter notes that neither of those teams were engaged, that the hold was never communicated to the Hostage Rescue Team, and that the resulting confusion forced the reconstruction team to drive from Quantico, Virginia to Providence overnight through a winter storm, arriving in time to begin processing evidence at 09:00 the following morning. The full letter, including all whistleblower disclosures, is publicly available as a PDF on the Senate Judiciary Committee's website.

A Pattern of Scrutiny — and a New FOIA Request

The Olympics episode is not the first time Patel's use of FBI jets has attracted official attention. NBC News reported in January 2026 that Patel had reduced his attendance at morning intelligence briefings and had drawn criticism from both White House and Justice Department senior staff for his frequency of travel on Bureau aircraft. The report described a director who was less present for operational matters than his predecessors, a characterisation the FBI disputed.

This week, the same week the Olympic video spread, Patel directed the firing of at least 10 FBI employees linked to the 2022 search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, according to three people familiar with the matter. That search had turned up classified documents stored at the property and led to one of the two federal cases against Trump, both of which were ultimately dismissed. Patel also disclosed this week that his own cellphone 'toll' records, call and metadata logs, had been obtained by investigators during the course of the Trump-related inquiries.

On Friday Feb. 27, the advocacy group Democracy Defenders Fund filed a Freedom of Information Act request, first obtained by NBC News, seeking any material related to Patel's 'official, personal, and political meetings' while in Italy.

The request asks specifically for records that could 'shed light on Kash Patel's use of government resources, including government aircraft, to facilitate his attendance at the 2026 Olympics and whether he accepted any gifts including free attendance at the men's hockey final.' Neither the FBI nor Patel's office had responded to the FOIA filing as of publication.

The White House said the president retains full confidence in his Administration — but Trump, by NBC News's account, made clear to Patel in their direct conversation that the beer, the banging table, and the government jet were not a good look for the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.