President Donald Trump has privately expressed frustration about FBI Director Kash Patel following Patel’s beer-drinking celebration with the U.S. men’s hockey team at the Winter Olympics in Milan.
This celebration led to days of negative media coverage, according to CNN reporting. The report noted that, despite his public support for Patel, Trump was upset about both the locker-room scene and the resulting headlines.
This incident stems from Team USA’s gold medal victory over Canada in Milan. CNN reported that Patel skipped the official U.S. delegation trip, traveled separately, and entered the men’s locker room after the win at the invitation of USA general manager Bill Guerin.
He then called Trump on speakerphone while players celebrated. Video of Patel chugging beer and joining the postgame celebrations quickly circulated online, shifting what should have been a sports highlight into a political story focused on the FBI director.
REPORTER: Can you say definitively that you have not been intoxicated or absent during your tenure as FBI director?
KASH PATEL: I can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia. This FBI director has been on the job twice as many days as every director before… pic.twitter.com/tV7Ifgj9WL
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 21, 2026
According to the report, Trump defended Patel publicly while expressing anger in private to his confidants. The article stated that Trump was upset not only by Patel’s behavior in the locker room but also by the negative fallout from the coverage. The White House did not distance itself from Patel as Karoline Leavitt told the publication that he “remains a critical player on the Administration’s law and order team.”
The Milan incident arose as Patel faced another wave of damaging reports. Reuters reported Monday that Patel filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick after the magazine published a story alleging excessive drinking and unexplained absences from work.
The article cited over two dozen anonymous sources who claimed to have witnessed “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” which had raised concerns among officials at the FBI and Justice Department. Patel denied the allegations and told Reuters, “The Atlantic’s story is a lie.” The magazine maintained its support for its reporting.
Other criticisms directed at Patel in recent weeks included claims that his travel and commitment to hockey have disrupted his schedule.
President Trump told FBI Director Kash Patel he was disappointed by his viral locker-room partying at the Winter Olympics and unhappy that Patel used government aircraft for the trip to Milan, Italy.
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/upBgP7qMBo
— AF Post (@AFpost) February 28, 2026
CNN reported that Patel sometimes misses meetings to play hockey and has used official aircraft for personal trips, allegations that the FBI has challenged. FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told CNN that accusations about missed meetings are a “fake narrative,” asserting that Patel is “a 24/7 operator.”
Reuters noted that it could not independently verify the claims in The Atlantic story, showing that much of the reporting on Patel’s behavior has relied on unnamed sources rather than formal findings or public disciplinary actions.
Nevertheless, the Olympic locker-room video provided Patel’s critics with something concrete beyond unnamed accounts. It also created a challenge for an administration that has sought to maintain discipline among its top law enforcement officials.
Patel appears to be following the trend of one bad headline after another that haunted the former Attorney General Pam Bondi. As with her case, reports suggested Trump was unhappy; then he defended her publicly before firing her.
