FBI’s Patel defends beer-soaked Olympic celebration while on Italy trip

WASHINGTON - FBI Director Kash Patel is defending his weekend beer-soaked locker-room celebration with the victorious U.S. men’s hockey team at the Winter ​Olympics in Milan, saying he had been in Italy on official business and would pay his own way ⁠for personal activities.

“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,” Patel wrote on social media, after ⁠videos showed him jumping up and ‌down and chugging ‌a beer in the locker room while the hockey team celebrated their 2-1 overtime ⁠victory over Canada on Sunday.

Democrats called the trip a wasteful diversion.

“The grift & corruption is ‌unreal. Your taxpayer dollars ‌funding the FBI Director’s Italian vacation,” Democratic U.S. Representative Jason Crow of Colorado wrote on social ⁠media. 

FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson said Patel ​was in Italy ⁠on official ​business and would reimburse the government for any personal use of FBI resources.

On his official account, Patel posted photos of himself ⁠meeting with foreign officials and U.S. personnel who were handling security at the Olympics.

Patel has previously faced criticism ⁠for allegedly using the FBI jet for personal travel. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said Patel had misused government resources by ⁠using the FBI’s Gulfstream ‌G550 to travel to Scotland ​for a ‌golf vacation, fly to Pennsylvania to watch ​his girlfriend sing at a wrestling match, and fly to a hunting ranch in Texas.