Kash Patel visited Hawaii last summer, the FBI took pains to note the director was not on vacation
Published by RawNews1st
7:10 pm ( May 14, 2026 )
When Kash Patel visited Hawaii last summer, the FBI took pains to note the director was not on vacation, highlighting his walking tour of the bureau’s Honolulu field office and meetings with local law enforcement.
Left out of the FBI’s news releases was an exclusive excursion that Patel took days later when he participated in what government officials described as a “VIP snorkel” around the USS Arizona in an outing coordinated by the military. The sunken battleship entombs more than 900 sailors and Marines at Pearl Harbor.
The swim, revealed in government emails obtained by The Associated Press, comes to light amid criticism of Patel’s use of the FBI plane and his global travel, which have blurred professional responsibilities with leisure activities. The FBI did not disclose the snorkeling session or that Patel had returned to Hawaii for two days after his initial stopover on the island.
An FBI spokesman did not answer questions about the snorkeling session, according to the AP, though it acknowledged that regional commanders hosted Patel at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam “as they commonly do with US government officials on official travel.”
The AP also quoted Stacey Young, who founded Justice Connection, a network of former federal prosecutors and agents who advocate for the Department of Justice’s independence, who said, “It fits a pattern of Director Patel getting tangled up in unseemly distractions — this time at a site commemorating the second deadliest attack in U.S. history — instead of staying laser-focused on keeping Americans safe.”
Part of what makes the new allegations so striking is the fact that many of Patel’s troubles stem from leaks from FBI insiders. The director has struggled for months with critics within the bureau, but there’s every reason to believe the problem is getting worse.
A year ago this month, Patel attended a secret conference of U.S. intelligence allies, and ahead of the gathering, the FBI director’s team apparently made some unusual requests. The New York Times reported earlier this year.
