WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - 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.
(Writing by Andy Sullivan; editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)
