Kash Patel is President-elect Donald Trump’s candidate to be the next chairman of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but to different people of his team sports team, he’s just another one of the people.
Patel, a lawyer and former high-ranking knowledge established in the first Trump administration, has spent more than a decade as a defenseman on a bonafide Northern Virginia men’s hockey league kingdom.
ELECTED TO SERVE NEXT YEAR: THE HOUSE AND SENATE FRESHMEN ARE NOW IN THE CONGRESS.
Patel, 44, is making the rounds on Capitol Hill ahead of the verification approach, meeting Tuesday with Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Steve Daines (R-MT ), Tim Scott (R-SC), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Roger Wicker (R-MS ), Rick Scott (R-FL ), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD ), according to the Trump transition team.
And despite the glaring rigors of being a part of the government’s government, Patel claimed to the Washington Examiner that he has no intention of putting his pastime on hold if he is confirmed.
He said in a speech,” I’ve been playing hockey since I was a person and I’m not going to stop playing if confirmed as the next FBI Director.” When I last lived and worked in the D.C. area, I decided to give up and had a satisfying practice as a junior hockey coach.
Patel’s division plays out of the Medstar Iceplex in Northern Virginia, the Washington Capitals’s formal training facility, and boasts considerable talent. Previous college players make up the majority of the league, and there is a long waiting list to join. Karl Alzner, a past Caps defenseman, has even been known to lace up his skis and engage in physical activity.
Patel, a dark defenseman in his own correct, won’t well you with his rod abilities, according to his own colleagues, but is the exact kind of “scrappy” person you want on your line.
Jordan Shahin and Tommy Szabo, who both started out on” The Dons” in 2015, have since grown close to the Trump standard. The Dons have won four group championships over the past ten years, and the MCIAHL plays 46 games per season on Sunday evenings. The crew even traveled to New York, where they won gold in the 2019 Lake Placid CAN/AM Challenge Cup, which is held annually at the Olympic complex’s” Miracle on Ice” competition.
” The hurry element is always there”, Shahin said of Patel in an exam. ” He’s a strong person and, certainly, he usually wants to be out there”.
Shahin recalled how during the 2023 club tournament, Patel tore his shoulder but didn’t inform his friends at the time and only kept playing.
” He only celebrated the win like normal”, he explained. However, Kash then needed to undergo surgery and undergo therapy, which made it a rather serious injuries.
” He’s a team guy. He’ll strip a shot, he’ll get a strike”, added Szabo. He will work extremely hard, get in the dirty regions, and crush a lot. Doesn’t assume a thank you or anyone. He generally does his work, and he fits in well.
Zach Gilhuly, who played as a wing and centre alongside Patel, Shahin, and Szabo for three times before moving to New York, said that” Kash holds his unique” with the former school people on The Dons.
” He’s in great shape. He arrives ready to play. I mean, some of the times he’s hopping off a plane and going straight to the club, and you can’t show that he was just on a six-hour journey from Vegas”, Gilhuly, who also returns to the DC-area to often fabric it up with his old club, explained.
” The thing about Kash’s game that does stick out is that he’s very smart. You can tell that he has watched a lot of hockey until he enjoys it because he is aware that he is not the most talented player on the planet but that he knows the best plays to make to avoid exposing himself.
Gilhuly explained to the Washington Examiner that Patel also facilitates off-the-ice activities that have helped to foster team chemistry and camaraderie.
All three of Patel’s teammates mentioned humorously that, though he’s a defenseman, Patel loves to shoot when in the offensive zone, despite not having the most reliable slapshot.
” Sometimes it comes in head high. Sometimes it’s good and flat on the ice”, Shahin mentioned. We frequently joke about keeping the shots low with him.
It’s nearly impossible to discuss Patel without mentioning the numerous negative media coverage he’s received over the past five years.
During his first term, Patel gained a reputation as one of Trump’s most devoted advisors. Senior positions at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Pentagon followed a stint leading the National Security Council’s Counterterrorism Directorate.
And in the Biden years, Patel has grown only more famous, or infamous, depending on who you ask.
Trump’s nominee for FBI director has pledged to prosecute his party’s political rivals if they are found to have interfering with the 2020 election. He identified 60 “government gangsters” in the appendix of his 2023 book, all of whom could be prosecuted during the second Trump administration. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and even Joe Biden himself made up that list.
But Patel’s hockey teammates say that media coverage hasn’t re-colored their perceptions of their friend, and, if anything, has given them more opportunity to make fun of him in the locker room.
” Recently, it’s obviously gotten to the point where it’s not that you can ignore it, but we all have fun. We’re all friends, so we might be giving him a hard time about a picture of him that maybe he doesn’t look his best in or something like that”, Shahin stated. “… It’s typically just funny to see our buddy on the news.” Everyone enjoys playing with him, and there is never anything that has been shown to be wrong.
” I have been with other guys in this league, and they’re like,’ Oh, you’re on the team with Kash,’ and then they’ll ask questions about Kash, but it’s not,’ Oh, he’s associated with this party’ and comments going in that direction”, Gilhuly told the Washington Examiner. ” They’re more asking,’ how is he as a guy? Yeah, he seems like a cool dude.’ The politics stop there”.
” Nothing has ever changed, with Kash working at the White House or taking this new gig up”, Szabo added. ” He walks in the door, and is like,’ oh, what’s up, man? How’s your week?'”
Ultimately, Patel’s teammates say that he, like virtually every other member of the team, treats hockey as an outlet to decompress from work or an alternative form of” therapy”, and they weren’t surprised at all to discover he plans to continue playing on The Dons if confirmed.
” We’re all a little bit crazy in the fact that we go and do it and deal with the bumps and bruises and, you know, having to go back to reality after it’s over, but it’s such a zen experience”, Shahin said.
” It’s like the best fraternity in the world, basically. Everyone who is willing to do it has undoubtedly put forth some effort. It’s a tough thing to try to balance with work, life, and social things and everybody’s travel”.
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” That’s just Kash”, Szabo said simply.
