Last month, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 875th goal in the National Hockey League, surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s long-standing record. Gretzky himself was present for the away game against the New York Islanders. When the cameras cut to Gretzky in the stands, a slightly less familiar face was seated with him: FBI Director Kash Patel.

FBI directors since J. Edgar Hoover have typically been staid, anodyne figures with a low public profile. (James Comey, the showboat leader of the bureau who helped elect Donald Trump in 2016, was a notable exception.) Patel is anything but that: The 45-year-old director has spent his time jetting around the country to sporting events, social events, and Mar-a-Lago.

That jet-setting lifestyle has drawn some scrutiny on Capitol Hill. Senate Democrats have reportedly asked the Government Accounting Office, a federal watchdog agency, to probe Patel’s use of official aircraft for personal business. While FBI directors are generally required to use government airplanes for national security reasons, Patel’s trips often appear to go well beyond what is required for him to do his job.

It is hard to fault Senate Democrats for taking a close look at anything the Trump administration does. Nor can they be blamed for their skepticism of Patel himself. But in this particular case, those who fear that Trump is moving the country in a more autocratic and dictatorial way might want to tread a little more lightly. So far, it seems like Trump’s choice for FBI director is less interested in settling scores and more interested in having fun. What would be a vice in any other administration may be a virtue in this one.

Patel was always an unconventional choice to serve as the head of the top federal law enforcement agency. Past FBI directors included former federal judges, U.S. attorneys, and high-ranking Justice Department officials. Patel, by comparison, only served as a low-ranking line prosecutor in the Justice Department for a few years in the early 2010s.

Patel’s rise instead owed itself to the favor he had garnered with President Donald Trump. He first became a public figure as a House Intelligence Committee........

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