Kash Patel’s Complaint About Personal Travel Resurfaces After Olympics Party Moment

On Feb 25, 2026

Old comments by FBI Director Kash Patel are coming back to haunt him after he was seen partying with Team USA in Italy after their hockey victory at the Olympics.

“I’m just saying Chris Wray doesn’t need a government funded G5 jet to go to vacation,” he said in 2023, referring to the then-director of the FBI. “Maybe we ground that plane. $15,000 every time it takes off. Just a thought.”

He’s made similar comments on other occasions.

“You ground Chris Wray’s private jet that he pays for with taxpayer dollars to hop around the country,” he said on his podcast that same year, according to The Associated Press. “You take away the fancy new fleet of cars from DOJ that they’re going to use to shuffle around executives.”

Now, however, he’s facing heat over hopping around the country, and the world, in those same jets.

Last year, for example, he faced criticism for using an FBI jet to watch his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, perform at a wrestling event.

Two Democratic lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee in December wrote a letter to Patel asking about a series of flights that included an alleged “date night” as well as a trip to “a luxury hunting retreat” called Boondoggle Ranch hosted by a Republican mega-donor.

On Sunday, Patel ― a hockey fan ― was seen living it up at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics as he partied with Team USA after they beat Canada to win the gold medal in hockey.

Footage from the locker room shows Patel in a Team USA jersey, dancing and celebrating with the team as they sang Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).”

Patel posted some images on social media:

pic.twitter.com/hBG987pxM2

— Kash Patel (@Kash_Patel) February 22, 2026

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Unity, Sacrifice, Attitude- what it takes to be the best in the world. These men live and breathe it. Now Team USA are gold medal champions, legends standing on the shoulders of giants. Thank you for representing the greatest country on earth, in the greatest game ever created.… pic.twitter.com/hBG987pxM2

— Kash Patel (@Kash_Patel) February 22, 2026

He also defended his presence there:

February 23, 2026

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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.…

— Kash Patel (@Kash_Patel) February 23, 2026

FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson said on X that the trip to Italy wasn’t purely personal in nature but a mix of business and pleasure. Patel, he said, was in Italy to participate in “partner meetings with Italian law enforcement and security officials,” among other reasons.

He wrote on X that Patel would reimburse the government for any expenses related to personal portions of his travel.

The FBI director is currently required to travel on a government jet, even for personal travel, due to “security and communications needs.” For personal travel, the director must reimburse the government ― but only for the cost of a normal coach air ticket on a commercial airline.