Jon Stewart ridiculed FBI Director Kash Patel for partying hard at the Winter Olympics on Sunday.
The FBI director faced criticism for boozing it up in the Team USA locker room after their win against Team Canada. Patel’s partying was widely criticized for being an undignified misuse of both his time and of taxpayer money.
As Stewart aired footage of the USA hockey team’s celebrations, he abruptly yelled “Wait, what the f---?”
“Is that FBI Director Kash Patel?” Stewart said incredulously. “Why are they putting a medal around the neck of FBI Director...?”
Patel’s locker room antics drew outrage nationwide, including from current and former FBI agents. CNN’s Jake Tapper wondered in his Monday broadcast of The Lead why Patel wasn’t spending his time on more pressing issues like the ongoing disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie.
Patel has since defended his behavior, posting on X on late Sunday night, “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 added to the post, “Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth. 👊🏼🏒”
Yet Stewart did not seem convinced that the Olympic team would organically decide to invite Patel into their locker room.
“Is Kash Patel a Make-a-Wish... Man? Kid? Is that what this is?” Stewart joked.
“I’m not trying to diminish his condition,” Stewart added. “There is currently no cure for crazy eyes.”
Stewart joked further, “Crazy eyes: For when you want to turn every picture into some sort of meth-fueled mugshot.”
Fueling much of the criticism of Patel’s Olympic partying is the FBI’s repeated insistence that he was not in Italy for a personal trip.
FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson told reporters last week that Patel was visiting Italy for “partner meetings with Italian law enforcement and security officials,” as well as for a “meeting with Ambassador [Tilman] Fertitta,” “meetings with Legat staff,” and “more.”
The day before the clip of Patel at the Olympics went viral, Williamson told an MS NOW reporter on X, “Your rag outlet wrote that [Patel] went to hang out at the Olympics on the taxpayer dime – even when provided information that your theory was false. When you’re ready to correct that let me know. Won’t hold my breath.”
