Exhausted, sweaty athletes, beer, champagne, and a congratulatory call from the president of the United States. All standard fare during the celebration of a gold-medal winning game at the Olympics. But some of the commotion around the U.S. men’s hockey team — who won their first Olympic gold medal since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” — has taken a political turn, with beleaguered FBI Director Kash Patel celebrating in the locker room before patching in President Donald Trump, who complained to the players that he would also “have to bring” the gold-medal winning U.S. women’s team to festivities at the White House or “be impeached.”
In videos of the celebration Patel — whose office spent days insisting he was in Milan on official business and not to party at the Olympics — chugged beers, banged on tables, and tried on players’ gold medals. At one point, he held out his phone so the president could deliver a message to the team. Trump congratulated them, and offered to coordinate military aircraft to transport the team from Miami (where they will be flying to in order to avoid winter storms battering the northeast) to Washington, D.C., for his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
“We’ll do the White House,” Trump told players. “We’ll just have some fun, we have medals for you guys. And we have to — I must tell you — we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” the president said, chuckling. The players laughed. “I do believe I probably would be impeached [if I didn’t],” Trump continued.
Neither the White House or USA Hockey — which manages both the men’s and women’s teams — immediately responded to requests for comment from Rolling Stone.
The women’s team on Monday said it is declining Trump’s invitation to attend the State of the Union. “We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal–winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” a USA Hockey spokesperson said, citing timing and previously scheduled commitments. “They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment,” the spokesperson added.
The United States won 12 gold medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, half of which were won by female athletes, and another two by mixed-gender teams. The final match of the women’s hockey event between the United States and Canada broke the record for the most-watched women’s hockey game ever. So far, the White House has not extended an invitation to the U.S. women’s hockey team, and there is no record of the president giving them a congratulatory locker room phone call. Instead, the president — who claims he wants to “protect” and uphold women’s sports by demonizing transgender athletes — painted the women’s team as unwanted hangers-on to the men’s celebration. It isn’t surprising from a president who has a long history of reflexive misogyny and alleged abuse against women.
Team USA was already in a difficult position going into these Olympics. The team arrived in Italy amid international attention to Trump’s deadly immigration crackdown, the continued fallout of the Epstein saga, and the perpetual tension Trump has wrought between the United States and its international allies. Any athlete who spoke candidly about their concerns regarding the political climate within the U.S.A., or god forbid outright criticized the president and Republicans, became the subject of threats and pile-ons by conservatives.
Trump even directly attacked U.S. skier Hunter Hess after he told reporters that “just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.” The president in turn called Hess a “real loser” that “shouldn’t have tried out for the Team,” if he felt that way in a Truth Social post. Figure Skater Amber Glenn — who won a gold medal in the team competition — said she received “a scary amount of hate/threats” after speaking openly about her experience as an LGBTQ athlete. Conservative pundits and influencers went so far as to suggest that athletes who were vocally critical of the president or the state of the country be kicked off the team or outright stripped of citizenship.
Meanwhile, FBI Director Patel celebrated with players in Milan as he and the FBI struggled to fend off accusations of incompetence and abuse of public funds, including for personal travel to sporting events and visits to see his girlfriend, singer Alexis Wilkins. Patel claimed he had been in Milan for “multiple partner and counterpart meetings including the Ambassador, MOU signings, LEGAT meetings, security briefings and more,” and that it was “NOT accurate to say he’s flying out on government funds for a personal trip,” in a social media post featuring an email the FBI sent to MS Now. It bears remembering that in 2023, well before taking the job, Patel publicly declared that the FBI director did not need a “government funded G-5 jet to go [on] vacation,” and suggested grounding the plane. During his 2025 confirmation hearing, Patel promised that the resources of the FBI would be exclusively dedicated to saving American lives. “America deserves a better brand of justice and I’m going to give it to them,” Patel declared.
“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 wrote Monday on X. “Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth.”
Even if one believes there’s nothing wrong with an administration official joining players in the locker room, Patel behaving like a frat house pledge the day a gunman was shot and killed while attempting to breach Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort suggests that he isn’t as laser-focused on the job as he promised lawmakers he would be.
