PoliticsKash Patel Responds to Olympics Backlash: 'I Love America'
FBI Director Kash Patel has absolutely no regrets about partying with the U.S. Men's hockey team.
Feb. 23 2026, Published 5:23 p.m. ET
After sparking international outrage over viral videos showing him partying with the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team after they beat Canada to win the gold medal at the Olympics in Italy, FBI Director Kash Patel blew off the criticism and said he was an invited guest.
“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,” Patel wrote on X, replying to those questioning why he was there in the first place.
FBI Director Kash Patel Partied With Olympic Hockey Players on Taxpayer Dime
Kash Patel has been criticized for using the FBI jet to see his country singer girlfriend in Nashville.
Patel, an avid hockey fan, traveled to Milan on the FBI’s private jet at the estimated cost of $75,000 of taxpayer money.
Critics argued it was inappropriate for the FBI head to be partying while domestic crises — such as a security breach at Mar-a-Lago and the ongoing search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie — required serious and professional leadership.
MS NOW's Ken Dilanian Hit Back at Kash Patel's Spokesperson
Patel's partying sparked an X feud between MS NOW journalist Ken Dilanian and FBI spox Ben Williamson
MS NOW correspondent Ken Dilanian — criticized by FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson, who, before the viral video surfaced, called his outlet a "rag" and dismissed the theory that Patel was there for the Olympics as false — said the FBI director isn’t sorry for his frat-bro follies.
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'He's Not Apologizing'
FBI Director Kash Patel partied hearty with hockey champs.
“He’s not apologizing. He’s saying his friends on the Olympic hockey team invited him into the locker room. Nobody believes that Kash Patel would have been in that locker room were he not the FBI director and he flew over there on the taxpayer’s dime in a private jet and yes he had official meetings, but the real question is when did he decide to take this trip?” Dilanian said on Monday, February 23.
'FBI Director Shouldn't Be Drinking On the Job'
FBI Director Kash Patel chugged beer with TEAM USA.
“There was never a doubt that he was going to be at the game, but those videos, my sources in the FBI are saying he’s really rubbing Americans’ noses in the fact that he was not only at the game, celebrating with the players, but some question the propriety doing that . . . chugging beer and spraying champagne. Typically, you don’t see the FBI director doing something like that. In fact, there’s a rule the FBI director shouldn’t be drinking on the job," he concluded.
