Kash Patel is living la dolce vita.
The embattled Federal Bureau of Investigation director and Trump appointee, long scrutinized for his taxpayer-funded jetsetting, flew to Italy on a government plane to watch Team USA men’s Olympic hockey, CBS News reported Thursday.
The $60 million government jet that Patel, 45, frequently uses to travel to Ultimate Fighting Championship matches, sporting events, hunting trips, and visit his girlfriend took off Thursday morning for Milan, according to the outlet.
Patel, an avid ice hockey fan, hyped himself up for his taxpayer-funded getaway with a series of posts on X.
“Snipe city for the red, white, and blue,” Patel captioned an image of a New York Post cover featuring Team USA star Quinn Hughes.
Before that, he shared a video of the team and wrote: “The boys be buzzin.”
Patel also replied to a post from USA Hockey promoting the U.S. Olympic women’s game.
“Let’s go ladies, can’t wait,” he wrote.
Patel reportedly plays in his own amateur hockey league and previously served as a youth hockey coach. His passion for the sport has intersected with taxpayer-funded travel before.
In April, for example, flight records show that a Boeing 757 owned by the Department of Justice flew to John F. Kennedy International Airport, arriving shortly before a game between the New York Islanders and the Washington Capitals. The plane returned to Washington, D.C., shortly after the game ended.
Patel’s latest getaway also comes as authorities enter the third week of a search in Arizona for the missing mother of Savannah Guthrie, which has yielded little public information.
That didn’t stop Patel, however, from spending Valentine’s Day in New York City with his country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins. The couple attended the wedding of Pennsylvania Congressman Guy Reschenthaler and Brooke Singman of Fox News.
In a statement posted to X, FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson said that Patel’s Italy trip was “planned months ago,” and includes meetings with various officials and law enforcement partners. He also added that the “FBI had a major role in Olympic security,” as well as “thanking FBI personnel on the ground.”
“Kash just called me and told me to add ‘Please tell them yes, I am rooting for the greatest team on earth from the greatest country on earth. Go Team USA,’” Williamson included in a follow up post.
Patel first landed in hot water over his travel habits after reports in October revealed he took the government jet to see Wilkins perform at a wrestling event in Pennsylvania on Oct. 25—before flying to her home base of Nashville later that same day.
Patel, who previously criticized his predecessors’ use of government aircraft, has taken at least six trips to Nashville and ten to Las Vegas, where he owns a home, Just the News reported late last year.
Additionally, in November, MS NOW reported that Patel had tasked a group of FBI agents to provide personal security for Wilkins. Two people with knowledge of the arrangement said it was unprecedented and could prevent them from conducting urgent work-related duties in and around Nashville.
And, on at least two occasions, Patel ordered Wilkins’ security detail to give an allegedly drunk friend of hers a lift home.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
