That referenced the Mar-a-Lago intruder, which happened while Trump was in the White House rather than Florida; violence that erupted in Mexico after its army killed the country’s most wanted drug lord; and the weekslong search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “TODAY” co-host Savannah Guthrie.
Former FBI Special Agent Michael Feinberg was another prominent critic of the scenes in Italy.
“One of the first things we were taught at Quantico was that there is never a moment in which you are not representing the Bureau,” he wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.
Patel took to X to defend himself.
“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- Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth,” he wrote.
Asked for additional comment by email, the FBI referred NBC News to Patel’s statement on X.
Patel said he was not just going to Italy for the Games, but rather traveling to meet Italian law enforcement counterparts as well as American agencies helping provide security at the event.
Protests erupted in Italy after it emerged that ICE would play a role in these Games, as it has done on these and other large international events in the past.
Patel posted pictures this week of his visit to the Milan Joint Operations Center, which he said was charged with protecting the security of American athletes and all those who traveled to Milan for the Winter Games. He also posted a photo of his meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Italy.
Last year, a dozen current and former FBI and Justice Department officials told NBC News that Patel’s relaxed briefing schedule had raised concerns he was not taking the job seriously enough.
Meanwhile, he has drawn attention for regularly appearing with celebrities at professional sporting events around the country, according to flight logs and social media posts.