Exhausted, sweaty athletes, beer, champagne and a congratulatory phone call from the President of the United States. All standard when celebrating an Olympic gold medal victory. But some of the hubbub surrounding the U.S. men’s hockey team — which won its first Olympic gold medal since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” — took a political turn when embattled FBI Director Kash Patel joined in the locker room to celebrate before chiming in on President Donald Trump. He complained to the players that he would also have to bring the gold-winning US women’s team to the White House for celebrations, otherwise he would be “impeached”.
In videos of the celebration, Patel – whose office insisted for days that he was in Milan for official business and not to celebrate at the Olympics – drank beer on Ex, banged on tables and tried on players’ gold medals. At one point he held up his cell phone so the president could send a message to the team.
Trump congratulated them and offered to coordinate military aircraft to transport the team from Miami (where they will fly to avoid winter storms in the Northeast) to Washington, D.C., for his “State of the Union” appearance on Tuesday.
Celebration with political undertones
“We’re doing this in the White House,” Trump told the players. “We’re just going to have some fun, we’ve got medals for you guys. And we’re going to have to – I’ve got to tell you this – we’re going to have to bring the women’s team too, you know that,” the president said with a laugh. The players laughed. “I think I would probably be impeached [wenn ich es nicht täte]” Trump continued.
Neither the White House nor USA Hockey – which oversees both the men’s and women’s teams – immediately responded to requests for comment from ROLLING STONE.
The United States won 12 gold medals at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, half of them by female athletes and another two by mixed teams. The final of the women’s hockey tournament between the USA and Canada broke the record as the most-watched women’s hockey game of all time. So far, the White House has not extended an invitation to the U.S. women’s team, and there is no indication that the president congratulated them by phone in the locker room.
Instead, the president — who claims he wants to “protect” and preserve women’s sports by demonizing transgender athletes — portrayed the women’s team as an uninvited appendage to the men’s celebration. It’s not surprising for a president with a long history of knee-jerk misogyny and alleged assaults against women.
Criticism and threats against athletes
Team USA was already in a tough spot before these Olympics. The crew traveled to Italy amid international attention for Trump’s deadly crackdown on migration, the ongoing fallout from the Epstein affair and the enduring tensions Trump has caused between the United States and its international allies. Any athlete who openly expressed concerns about the political climate in the United States or even criticized the president and Republicans was the target of threats and coordinated attacks from conservative circles.
Trump even directly attacked US skier Hunter Hess after he told reporters: “Just because I carry the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US.” The president then called Hess a “real loser” in a post on Truth Social who “shouldn’t have auditioned for the team” if he felt that way.
Figure skater Amber Glenn – who won gold in the team event – said she received “a frightening amount of hate/threats” after speaking openly about her experiences as an LGBTQ athlete. Conservative commentators and influencers went so far as to suggest that athletes who openly criticized the president or the state of the country should be kicked off the team or stripped of their citizenship.
Patel under pressure
Meanwhile, FBI Director Patel celebrated with players in Milan as he and the FBI tried to fend off allegations of incompetence and misuse of public funds, including for personal travel to sporting events and visits to his girlfriend, singer Alexis Wilkins. Patel said he was in Milan for “multiple meetings with partners and counterparts, including the Ambassador, for MOU signings, LEGAT meetings, security briefings and more” and that it was “NOT accurate to say that he is flying on a private trip at government expense,” he wrote in a social media post with an email from the FBI to MS Now.
Recall that in 2023, well before taking office, Patel publicly stated that the FBI director did not need a “government-funded G-5 jet to fly on vacation” and suggested that the plane be grounded. During his confirmation hearing in 2025, Patel pledged to dedicate the FBI’s resources exclusively to saving American lives. “America deserves a better form of justice, and I will deliver it,” Patel said.
“For the very concerned media – yes, I love America and was deeply honored when my friends, the newly minted gold medalists from Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys,” Patel wrote Monday on X. “Greatest country in the world and greatest sport in the world.”
Even if you believe there’s nothing wrong with a government official partying with players in the locker room, Patel’s behavior, like that of a frat house prospect on the day a gunman was shot while trying to storm Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound, suggests he’s not as focused on his duties as he promised lawmakers he would be.
