A former top FBI official has sharply condemned Director Kash Patel for partying with members of the victorious U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team in Italy.
Andrew McCabe, who served as acting director of the FBI during the first Trump administration, told CNN that Patel’s presence there, where he was filmed chugging beer with the players in a post-game celebration, sent a “horrible, horrible message” to the bureau’s rank and file.
“I mean, the video is ridiculous, and it was completely inappropriate for him to be engaging, to go at all,” McCabe said in an interview with Jake Tapper. “Let’s be honest. The excuse that he had to go for security meetings the day before the games are over is patently ridiculous.”
The FBI has said Patel was in Italy for a series of security and diplomatic meetings, but McCabe said he doubted this rationale, noting security planning meetings typically take place months before major events such as the Olympics.
The former FBI official added that Patel’s antics were a particularly bad image as the FBI deals with a string of high-profile threats and investigations, including the unsolved suspected kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie and the potential blowback if the U.S. resumes hostilities with Iran.
Patel’s attendance at the game provoked strident criticism from Democrats.
“It is a continuation of amateur hour at the FBI,” Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon told CNN’s Erin Burnett later Monday. “I know the serious agents, the senior agents, they are appalled by the diminished reputation of the FBI as a result of Kash Patel.”
Elsewhere, Rep. Dan Goldman of New York posted an old podcast clip of Patel, prior to his time at the FBI, criticizing past bureau officials for using a “government funded G5 jet to go to vacations.”
Conservatives have defended Patel’s presence at the game.
“No matter what the Left is trying to turn this into…every proud American is smiling through every second of this video,” Fox News host Will Cain posted on X, resharing a video of Patel spraying beer in the air and jumping up and down with Team USA.
In an interview with Laura Ingraham on Monday, Dan Bongino, a former top deputy under Patel at the FBI, said there were valid reasons for the director to go to Italy given the FBI’s “significant footprint” in security planning around the Olympics, which head next to Los Angeles in 2028.
“I don’t give a damn, let him have a good time with the team,” Bongino added.
Patel himself has downplayed the criticism.
“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,” he wrote on X.
A top FBI spokesperson said Sunday that any personal expenses associated with Patel’s trip to Italy would be reimbursed.
The FBI director has attracted criticism for his use of government resources, including assigning a security detail to his country singer girlfriend and using an FBI jet for personal travel.
FBI directors are required to use government aircraft and Patel has said he’s used agency jets less than his predecessors.
“I’m entitled to a personal life just like my other agency counterparts with their partners,” he told Fox News last year. “Do I support my girlfriend? Absolutely. And I do take trips with her? Absolutely.”
In December, House Democrats began investigating Patel’s use of government aircraft.
Inside the FBI, Patel’s actions have reportedly made him a subject of mockery.
“I’ll tell you from this a nickname that I’ve heard he’s being called from agents within the FBI,” former special agent Christopher O’Leary told MS NOW in December. “He’s the Make-a-Wish director.”
