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FBI Denies That Kash Patel’s Olympics Trip Using Agency Jet Is For Personal Reasons

By Antonio Pequeño IV, Forbes Staff. Pequeño is a breaking news reporter who covers tech and more.

Feb 19, 2026, 08:01pm EST Feb 19, 2026, 08:03pm EST

The FBI on Thursday denied that Director Kash Patel is using an agency plane for personal use in visiting the Olympics in Milan, following a report from CBS News that noted Patel plans to support the U.S. men’s hockey team while he’s in Milan along with meeting law enforcement there.


FBI Director Kash Patel delivers remarks on an arrest connected to the 2012 U.S. Embassy attack in Benghazi, Libya, at the Department of Justice on Feb. 6, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)Less
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Key Facts
• Patel departed the U.S. aboard a Justice Department plane on Thursday morning, according to CBS News, which cited public flight data and unnamed sources familiar with the matter who said Patel, a known hockey fan, planned to attend the Olympic hockey medal rounds.

• Patel’s plans to attend the hockey games were also reported by MS Now, which cited three people familiar with the matter who said the director plans to attend the bronze medal competition and the gold medal matchup in men’s ice hockey this weekend.

• The U.S. men’s hockey team will face off against Slovakia in the semifinals Saturday, and will appear in one of the games Patel reportedly plans to attend.

• FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson tweeted the CBS article was “designed to mislead,” adding Patel is on a trip planned months ago and that he has scheduled meetings with Italian law enforcement and security officials and Tilman Fertitta, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, noting the FBI’s role in Olympic security.

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FBI Director Kash Patel, during what his spokesman said was an official trip to Milan for security meetings, was filmed guzzling from a beer bottle and celebrating in the locker room with U.S. Olympic hockey players Sunday after they won the gold-medal game.

Several videos emerged on social media showing Patel in the locker room after the game, but one in particular drew outrage from current and former FBI agents. It depicted Patel pouring what appeared to be beer down his throat, spraying some of it in the air and screaming in celebration as a player put a gold medal around his neck.

Eight former FBI and Justice Department officials sent MS NOW a copy of the video, which they said was drawing outrage as it rocketed around FBI and DOJ circles. ......

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told MS NOW on Thursday that Patel was going to Milan for a series of business meetings, and it was unfair to describe the trip as having to do with hockey or pleasure.

“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 posed Saturday on X. He did not respond to a request for comment about the video.