Posts claim Kash Patel’s flight to Milan cost taxpayers $400K. That estimate seems a little high

On Feb. 22, 2026, in the last event of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the U.S. men’s national hockey team beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to win the country’s first gold medal in the event since the “Miracle on Ice” team in 1980. 

But as videos of the men’s team celebrating their victory began appearing online, many people noticed they featured an unexpected guest — FBI Director Kash Patel. Footage showed Patel drinking a beer inside the locker room with the team before calling President Donald Trump so he could speak to the players. (Snopes separately fact-checked a claim about Trump’s remarks during that phone call).

Social media users then claimed the FBI director flew to Milan to watch the men’s hockey final on the taxpayer’s dime, alleging the trip cost approximately $400,000. Snopes readers searched the site looking to see whether this figure was accurate. 

Patel’s trip to Milan was indeed paid for with taxpayer money. FBI directors have been required to travel on a private jet due to “security and communications needs” since 2011, according to the Government Accountability Office, an independent, nonpartisan organization that works for Congress, providing information about government spending.

However, exactly why Patel was in Milan in the first place and how much his trip cost is subject for debate. The flight cost less than $400,000, based on previous information about how expensive the plane is to fly, though there was no information about how much taxpayer money was spent while Patel was in Italy.

In numerous X posts, FBI spokesman Ben Williamson attacked reporters from news media outlets CBS News and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) for alleging Patel was in Milan for the game, saying the trip “was planned months ago” and included meetings with Italian law enforcement and security officials and the U.S. ambassador to Italy.

Patel also took to X to defend his actions, saying he “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.” The FBI director is well known for being a hockey fan, according to The New York Times, and plays the game himself. 

https://x.com/Kash_Patel/status/2025736412125855918

Snopes contacted the FBI for comment on this story. We had not heard back at time of publication but we will update this article if we receive a reply.

The private jet

The Office of Management and Budget maintains a memo explaining how government officials may use private jets. For instance, the government uses private planes when the “mission requirements” (an agency doing what it is designated to do) call for it (Page 2, Section 5B). The other major category of private flights is “required use travel,” for when “the government aircraft is required because of bona fide communications or security needs of the agency or exceptional scheduling requirements” (Page 2, Section 5D).

Officials required to use private planes include the attorney general and FBI director, according to the summary page of the 2013 GAO report.

When a government plane flies because of required use, according to the OMB memo, the relevant official must refund the government the coach fare available to the general public for travel between the two locations (Page 5, Section 9B):

(i) For a wholly personal or political trip, the full coach fare for the trip;

(ii) For an official trip during which the employee engages in political activities, the appropriate share of the full coach fare for the entire trip;

(iii) For an official trip during which the employee flies to one or more locations for personal reasons, the excess of the full coach fare of all flights taken by the employee on the trip over the full coach fare of the flights that would have been taken by the employee had there been no personal activities on the trip.

It is unclear whether Patel reimbursed or plans to reimburse the government for any parts of the trip to Italy. As noted above, the FBI had not replied to our request for comment.

In sum, because Patel is required to fly privately due to security concerns, he is supposed to reimburse the government some money when he uses the plane for personal reasons. In this case, the amount of reimbursement would likely depend on Patel’s other activities during his trip to Italy.

Estimating a cost

In this case, according to MS NOW, Patel flew to Milan using the FBI’s Gulfstream jet. The 2013 GAO report estimated that one “15-hour international flight” on the Gulfstream V aircraft cost $75,440 in 2010 — about $112,500 in 2026, adjusted for inflation. According to CBS News, Patel flew from Joint Base Andrews to an Air Force Base in Italy, a roughly nine-hour flight.

MS NOW estimated Patel’s Milan trip cost “as much as $75,000,” under the assumption that the jet cost taxpayers about $5,000 per flight hour to operate. The Democratic Party claimed the trip cost “approximately $100,000” without providing evidence. 

Based on the GAO report and MS NOW’s numbers, somewhere between $60,000 and $80,000 is a reasonable ballpark estimate of the cost, given that several factors, such as the cost of aviation fuel and the salaries of pilots, could not be independently established. (If a 15-hour flight, adjusted for inflation, costs roughly $112,500, then a nine-hour flight would seemingly cost about $67,500. However, this assumes the costs have a linear relationship with the length of the flight.)

Perceived hypocrisy

Patel’s use of the private jet is further complicated by his own past words — MSNBC compiled multiple instances in which Patel criticized his predecessor, Christopher Wray, for using a private jet.

Only two FBI directors have ever been fired — but one of them, William Sessions, was dismissed by then-President Bill Clinton over ethical concerns, including improperly using the FBI’s private jet to visit family.

According to The New York Times and CBS News, Patel has flown to Inverness, Scotland, for a golf trip; to San Angelo, Texas, for a hunting trip with Republican donor Bubba Saulsbury; and to State College, Pennsylvania, to see his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, sing the national anthem at a Penn State wrestling match, all at taxpayer expense.

Congressional Democrats have sent a letter to the GAO calling for an investigation into how Patel has used the private jet, and another to Patel to reprimand him.

In the days following the trip to Italy, Sen. Dick Durbin, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said whistleblowers told him Patel’s use of the private jet had directly impeded the FBI investigation into the fatal shooting of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk in September 2025.

Sources