FBI Director Kash Patel
PHOTO : JIM LO SCALZO/EPA

FBI Director Kash Patel took a 'VIP snorkel' next to the USS Arizona at the Pearl Harbor memorial.

This is yet another instance of Patel mixing business with pleasure following Patel's drinking inside the US Men's Hockey Team locker room.

Patel's Snorkel in Hallowed Ground

'The swim, revealed in government emails obtained by The Associated Press, comes to light amid criticism of Patel's use of the FBI plane and his global travel, which have blurred professional responsibilities with leisure activities. The FBI did not disclose the snorkeling session or that Patel had returned to Hawaii for two days after his initial stopover on the island,' according to the AP.

Patel's excursion in August occurred after he spent two days in Hawaii on his way back to the US from official FBI visits to Australia and New Zealand. 'On his way to those countries, he stopped in Hawaii to visit the Honolulu field office. An FBI spokesman did not answer questions about the snorkeling session,' according to the AP.

The FBI said in a statement that top regional commanders hosted Patel at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam; the active US military base at Pearl Harbor. 'As they commonly do with US government officials on official travel.' The visit, the spokesman said, 'was part of the Director's public national security engagements last August with counterparts in New Zealand, Australia, our Honolulu Field Office, and the Department of War.'

Details on how Patel's snorkeling session was planned are unclear. A Navy spokesperson, Capt. Jodie Cornell, 'confirmed the outing but said the service was not able to track down who initiated it,' according to the AP.

Anyone swimming with Patel were told 'not to touch/come into contact with' the sunken ship in any way, Cornell said. She added that the snorkelers were also briefed about 'the historic significance of the Memorial as the final resting place/tomb for hundreds of service members,' according to the AP.

Patel's History Mixing Business with Pleasure

This revelation comes after Patel's controversial locker room visit at the Winter Olympics back in February.

Patel was filmed downing a beer in the US Men's Hockey Team locker room after their gold medal win which went so far as President Trump allegedly telling Patel that he was not pleased with that behavior.

'It fits a pattern of Director Patel getting tangled up in unseemly distractions, this time at a site commemorating the second deadliest attack in U.S. history, instead of staying laser-focused on keeping Americans safe,' said Stacey Young, who founded Justice Connection, a web of former federal prosecutors and agents who push forward for the Department of Justice's independence.

Varying Opinions on Patel's Snorkel

'Hack Albertson, a Marine veteran, is part of a select group from the Paralyzed Veterans of America trained to dive on the Arizona annually to check on the condition of the wreck. He said it was inappropriate for Patel and other political figures to snorkel or dive at the memorial,' according to the AP.

'It's like having a bachelor party at a church. It's hallowed ground,' he said. 'It needs to be treated with the solemnity it deserves.'

'I have not heard of anyone who would object to these visits as they are very rare and there aren't any survivors of the Arizona left alive,' Deidre Kelley, national president of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, wrote in an email to the AP. 'Their children might have some objections but I haven't heard any.'

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