ABC News reports that FBI Director Kash Patel is facing a new controversy. The old controversy, where anonymous sources told Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick that Patel would get blackout drunk on the job, is still going strong, as Sen. Chris Van Hollen proved this week with repeated claims that Patel is a liar and challenges to take an alcohol test. It seems the media has chosen Patel to pile on.
This new controversy involved a snorkeling excursion Patel took "to one of the most hallowed places in the United States."
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. https://t.co/fpeCramoqS
— ABC News (@ABC) May 16, 2026
Kash Patel's "VIP Snorkel" with 9 guests, accompanied by Navy Seals, over the tomb of 900 sailors at Pearl Harbor: "[A]s disrespectful as playing kickball on top of the graves at Arlington."https://t.co/oNwsCXBigJ
— Roger Parloff (@rparloff) May 16, 2026
What luck! Just like Nicholas Kristof's Israeli dog-rape story, they're giving this one away as a gift article so everyone can read it.
Elizabeth Williamson and Adam Goldman report on the "new" controversy:
Last summer, the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, capped a whirlwind South Pacific trip with a snorkel trip in Hawaii.
There, Navy SEALs used two boats to transport and escort Mr. Patel and nine other people on what a Defense Department email called a “V.I.P. Snorkel” next to one of the military’s most sacred sites, the underwater tomb of the U.S.S. Arizona that holds the remains of more than 900 Navy sailors and Marines who died at Pearl Harbor.
Mr. Patel swam in the vicinity of the tomb for 30 minutes, according to the Navy.
"The tomb." Last summer. New controversy.
The idea of a high-ranking government official receiving an escort from the SEALs for a recreational swim near the tomb is “horrifying,” said William M. McBride, a Navy veteran and professor emeritus of history at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
“This is a war grave with the same legal status as Arlington National Cemetery,” Mr. McBride said in an interview. “Snorkeling around Arizona is as disrespectful as playing kickball on top of the graves at Arlington.”
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"Officials from the Navy and the Defense Department said V.I.P. 'tours' near the Arizona were common, but they declined to say how often they take people snorkeling," they report.
By this logic touring Auschwitz makes you a disrespectful antisemite.
— Crash (@Crash1111111111) May 16, 2026
So what? They weren't playing and there was NO disrespect shown.
— CarrieLWebb 🇺🇸 (@webb_carrie) May 16, 2026
As disrespectful as walking in a VA cemetery I think you mean. Which isn't disgraceful.
— Spooner Fed (@spooner_fed) May 16, 2026
Nonsense. The tour was arranged by the Navy. They had no problem with it. Using your logic, everyone walking through Arlington or passing by a headstone is somehow desecrating a grave.
— Anthony Formica (@AnthonyFormic13) May 16, 2026
These are done with the permission of the theater commander, and they are relatively common. It is no different than VISITING Arlington, not playing a game on top of it. You're ridiculous.
— Mike Jones 🦘🤿🐊😱 (@MikemanCommeth) May 16, 2026
Thousands of people stand over the wreckage and look at it at the Arizona Memorial. How is looking at the wreckage from the water ANY fucking different?
— SinNombre (@SinNomb54107159) May 16, 2026
Why? I went to the beaches of Normandy on a tour named "band of Brothers" You guys must be very, very desperate to have something on this guy anything but this ain't gonna do it. This is ridiculous.
— Think (@Think0909) May 16, 2026
Serious? Desperate left wing crazy Dem.s trying to make "something" out of nothing. It was a VIP dive with Navy Seals, other VIPs have done this for years. Go find something else to cry about.
— MauiSurfsUp (@SurfsMaui) May 16, 2026
It is really enjoyable to see you guys reduced to this.
— Penny (@pennyelizabeths) May 16, 2026
Is there something particularly disrespectful about snorkeling over a shipwreck? The Times found one guy they could quote as saying it was as disrespectful as playing kickball at Arlington. It was "recreational."
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