FBI Director Kash Patel took VIP snorkel trip around USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, Navy says
FBI Director Kash Patel visited Hawaii last summer on an official trip.
FBI Director Kash Patel is facing a new controversy over a snorkeling excursion he took to one of the most hallowed places in the United States.
While on an official visit to Hawaii last summer, Patel took a rare VIP snorkeling tour of Pearl Harbor, as first reported Thursday by The Associated Press.
The U.S. Navy confirmed the tour took place in a statement Thursday to ABC News.
The tour was arranged for Patel by the U.S. Navy and included swimming near the wreckage of the USS Arizona, where 900 U.S. sailors and Marines died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The AP reported it discovered the snorkeling excursion through government emails obtained by the news outlet.
The snorkeling tour was not on Patel's public schedule released at the time of his visit.
"All participants received a thorough safety briefing for the evolution to include medical plans and standing rules for swimming in close proximity (but not over) the USS ARIZONA," Navy spokesperson Capt. Jodie Cornell said in a statement to ABC News. "Participants are also briefed not to touch/come into contact with the USS ARIZONA in anyway. This brief also covers the historic significance of the Memorial as the final resting place/tomb for hundreds of service members and that everybody should treat the site with the respect and dignity that it deserves."
Cornell also described it as "standard practice" for the Navy to "partner with local leadership to host and support distinguished visitors in the area when requested."
The FBI did not deny that the snorkeling tour took place last August, with agency spokesperson Ben Williamson describing it in a post Thursday on X as a "historical tour to honor our heroes who died on the USS Arizona - not a party."
"As part of our engagements in the Indo-Pacific theater, the IndoPacom Commander graciously offered to host the Director and team at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, as they commonly do with US government officials on official travel," Williamson said in a separate statement to ABC News. "This was part of the Director’s public national security engagements last August with counterparts in New Zealand, Australia, our Honolulu Field Office, and the Department of War.”
The USS Arizona Memorial is a public site reachable by boat and managed by the National Park Service, according to the memorial’s website. In rare instances, the NPS and Navy arrange snorkeling excursions similar to Patel's for other VIPs.
The snorkeling excursion taken by Patel highlights growing concerns among critics of the FBI director that he is potentially using his public office to score personal perks.
During the Winter Olympics in February, Patel was seen on camera drinking beers with the U.S. men's hockey team as they celebrated their gold medal win.
Patel, a hockey fan, was said to have had meetings in Italy prior to attending the game. He reiterated that claim during a May 12 hearing with the Senate Appropriations Committee, saying he was there to secure the extradition of a top cybercriminal from the China and to help with Olympic security.
Patel, who was confirmed as FBI director in February last year, faced additional questions in the Senate hearing on alleged misuse of FBI resources and a story in The Atlantic that alleged he has had "bouts of excessive drinking" and job performance issues.
In the hearing, Patel called the report a "total farce." He has sued The Atlantic over the article, demanding $250 million in damages.
The Atlantic said last month, when the lawsuit was filed, that it stands by its reporting.
"We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit," the magazine said in a statement.
The White House, meanwhile, is standing by Patel, calling him a "critical player."
"Under President Trump and Director Patel’s leadership at the FBI, crime across the country has plummeted to the lowest level in more than 100 years and many high profile criminals have been put behind bars. Director Patel remains a critical player on the Administration’s law and order team," White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement to ABC News Thursday.
ABC News' Luke Barr and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
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