FBI Director Kash Patel is threatening to sue The Atlantic and the author of its explosive report alleging he is frequently intoxicated, consistently absent from work and paranoid about getting fired.
In a statement attributed to Patel, the FBI told The Atlantic that its reporting was “all false,” adding, “I’ll see you in court.”
Patel’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, posted to social media a letter he said he sent to The Atlantic and to the reporter who wrote the story, Sarah Fizpatrick, before the piece was published.
“They were on notice that the claims were categorically false and defamatory,” he said in a statement posted on X. “They published anyway.”
The Atlantic reported that Patel’s excessive drinking, often in front of other administration employees, has affected the FBI director’s ability to attend meetings and briefings, and that he is “often away or unreachable” when needed in his capacity as the head of the bureau.
The news organization said its story was based on interviews with more than two dozen people, including current and former FBI agents, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive information. They reportedly described Patel as “erratic, suspicious of others, and prone to jumping to conclusions before he has necessary evidence.” They called Patel’s behavior “a national-security vulnerability,” citing “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences.”
“They said that he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, in many cases at the private club Ned’s in Washington, D.C., while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. He is also known to drink to excess at the Poodle Room, in Las Vegas, where he frequently spends parts of his weekends,” Fitzpatrick wrote in the story published Friday. “Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights, six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel’s schedule told me.”
MS NOW has not confirmed the reporting. The FBI did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
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The White House vehemently defended Patel to The Atlantic. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he “remains a critical player on the Administration’s law and order team.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Patel “accomplished more in 14 months than the previous administration did in four years. Anonymously sourced hit pieces do not constitute journalism.”
Patel’s behavior on the job — including his use of the FBI’s private jet and the bureau’s security detail for personal reasons — have come under the scrutiny of lawmakers. A video of the FBI director in February guzzling beer with the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team after it won the gold medal in Italy, during a trip that his spokesperson had said was for security meetings, sparked outrage in FBI and DOJ circles.
Fitzpatrick told MS NOW’s Jen Psaki on Friday night that she stood by her reporting.
“These are not the types of people who are willing to speak out outside of the FBI, especially right now, because Kash Patel is going after people with polygraphs in a way that has never happened at the bureau,” she said. She defended her reporting, saying, “I stand by every word.”
Patel threatened legal action against the publication in a post on X on Friday night: “See you and your entire entourage of false reporting in court… But do keep at it with the fake news, actual malice standard is now what some would call a legal lay up.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.