Kash Patel’s taxpayer-funded work trip to Italy included a well-documented raucous locker room celebration with Team USA at the Winter Olympics.
FBI Director Kash Patel, 45, was first captured celebrating with U.S. men’s hockey player Dylan Larkin in an Instagram Live following their triumphant match against Team Canada. Patel then posted his own photos hanging out with the athletes and shared a video of the medal ceremony.
“Unity, Sacrifice, Attitude- what it takes to be the best in the world, he posted on X. “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.”
In replies to his post, social media users complained that Patel was funding his Olympic vacation with the taxpayers’ dime.
Patel has been under intense scrutiny after taking a government jet to Italy. He filled his X feed with Olympic hockey posts ahead of his trip, even as FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson blasted CBS News for publishing an article “designed to mislead” on Thursday about Patel’s Olympic travel plans.
The Daily Beast reached out to the FBI for comment.
Since taking over the role, the embattled FBI director, an avid hockey fan, has been criticized for using government planes for personal trips. Last April, he reportedly flew to Long Island, New York, to catch an NHL game.
Flight records showed that one of the Justice Department’s Boeing 757s flew to New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport shortly before the April 6, 2025, game between the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals. The aircraft flew back to Washington, D.C. shortly after the match ended.
Williamson continued to rebuke reports that Patel was in Italy for pleasure. On Saturday, he reshared Patel’s X post visiting the Milan Joint Operations Center, which is providing security to American athletes. Williamson said it was the “fourth public official event since Director Patel’s arrival in Italy.”
“I have yet to receive any follow up from CBS or MS NOW who purposefully misled people to think Kash was flying to Italy to hang out at the Olympics,” Williamson continued.
In response, MS NOW justice and intelligence correspondent Ken Dilanian asked Williamson via X whether Patel would be at the highly anticipated match between Canada and the U.S. on Sunday.
“Your rag outlet wrote that he went to hang out at the Olympics on the taxpayer dime – even when provided information that your theory was false,” Williamson replied. “When you’re ready to correct that let me know. Won’t hold my breath.”
Williamson did not respond publicly after Dilanian responded with a clip of Patel hanging out with the U.S. men’s hockey team after their gold medal win.
Kyle Seraphin, a “recovering FBI agent” who once advised Patel before he was sworn in as the Bureau’s top boss, called Williamson a “liar” for saying the director was in Italy for professional reasons.
“Ben Williamson, FBI AD of Public Affairs, is a flat out liar,” Seraphin, a podcaster, said. “@FBIDirectorKash went to Italy to hang out at the Olympics… and he accidentally got caught on Dylan Larkin’s livestream from Team USA’s locker room, His ‘meetings with law enforcements’ were just a cover.”
Seraphin has had a tense relationship with Patel, whose girlfriend Alexis Wilkins, 27, is suing him for defamation.
Wilkins accused Seraphin of “falsely asserting that she—an American-born country singer—is an agent of a foreign government, assigned to manipulate and compromise the Director of the FBI.” The podcaster had apparently suggested that Wilkins was a “former Mossad Agent.”
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