FBI Director Kash Patel responded to criticism after video footage surfaced of him celebrating with the Team USA Men’s Hockey team after their win against Canada.
In a post on X, Patel expressed that he “was extremely humbled” when Team USA’s Men’s Hockey team invited him “into the locker room” to celebrate their Gold Medal win.
“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,” Patel wrote. “Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth.”
Video footage posted to social media shows Patel celebrating with the team, and Patel can be seen chugging what appears to be a beer before shaking it several times in the air. Patel can also be seen banging on a table in front of him with his other hand.
Another member of the hockey team was also seen placing a gold medal around Patel’s neck.
Several people responded to a video of Patel celebrating that was posted on X by William Turton, a reporter for ProPublica. Turton stated that “a source” sent him the photo.
“You can only imagine the reaction from the GOP and Fox if this was a FBI director under Obama or Biden,” journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote in a post on X. “What is he doing there? At taxpayer expense??”
“Where’s DOGE when you need it?” Fox News Channel’s The Five co-host Jessica Tarlov wrote on X.
“They will do *literally anything* except arrest Epstein’s accomplices,” Republican Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback wrote. “As Governor, I will appoint a special prosecutor to reopen the Epstein investigations on every single sick animal in the files, Democrat or Republican.”
“The FBI director parties on your dime,” Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, wrote.
“Kash Patel partying in Italy at the Olympics on taxpayer dollars,” Democrat influencer Harry Sisson wrote.
“3 million pages of evidence of a massive child sex trafficking ring and this is what the FBI director is doing right now,” Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) wrote.
“Does Kash Patel ever work?” Meghan McCain wrote.
Breitbart News reported that Team USA’s Jack Hughes scored the winning goal “with 1:41 gone in the overtime period,” defeating Canada 2-1. The win represents the first time the USA has won the gold medal “since 1980 at Lake Placid.”
