Donald Trump Is Reportedly 'Not Happy' After Kash Patel's Viral Olympic Locker Room Binge

Donald Trump privately told FBI Director Kash Patel he was disappointed by Patel's behaviour during a boozy Winter Olympics locker room celebration in Milan, Italy, NBC News reported on Friday.

The alleged fallout began after video surfaced of Patel celebrating with the US men's hockey team after it won Olympic gold, then spread rapidly online and turned into a messy, partisan argument about judgement, optics and the use of government resources.

Donald Trump's Displeasure Meets A Viral Moment

According to the NBC, Trump told Patel he was not happy with what he saw and he also disliked Patel using a government aircraft to fly to Milan. That second complaint matters, because it turns a cringe-inducing clip into a questions-of-propriety story, one that does not vanish just because the team won and everyone looked euphoric.

Trump's own relationship with alcohol sits quietly in the background of the confrontation. The Hill report notes that Trump does not drink, and the criticism relayed to NBC included Patel's drinking in the locker room.

The White House, for its part, swerved. In a statement to The Hill, spokesperson Abigail Jackson did not address the reported incident and instead credited Patel with lowering crime rates in the US. '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,' Jackson said. 'The President has full confidence in his Administration.'​

IBTimes UK reached out to the FBI for comment.​

Donald Trump, Kash Patel And The Fight Over Official Travel

Patel has not acted like a chastened man. He dismissed criticism of his behaviour in a post on X aimed at '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 wrote.

On the aircraft question, the FBI has tried to shut the door before it fully opens. The agency previously pushed back on queries about Patel's use of a government aircraft, saying he went to Italy to meet 'with regional partners and security teams', and that the travel had been planned months in advance.

Democrats have seized on that contrast. Xochitl Hinojosa, a spokesperson for the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden, argued on X that Patel's attendance clashed with other matters she said required FBI focus. 'There was a threat at the president's residence at MAL [Mar-a-Lago], Americans in Mexico are facing major threats by cartel members, Nancy Guthrie is still missing, and our FBI Director thinks he's a frat bro?!' she wrote.​

Not everyone on the right is playing along with the outrage. Fox News host Will Cain wrote on X that despite 'what the Left is trying to turn this into...every proud American is smiling through every second of this video.'​

Then came a critique from the sports world that cuts across politics and straight into team culture. Former US Women's National Team captain Megan Rapinoe questioned why Patel was with the team and why team members spoke with Trump by phone about being at his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

'I would have never, as a captain or a leader on my team ... I think that would have been clear to our staffs, and to the larger organization and support staff, those people would never be allowed in our locker rooms,' Rapinoe said on an episode of her podcast with Sue Bird, A Touch More.​