Kash Patel has sued The Atlantic journal over a ‘malicious and defamatory hit piece’ alleging he has a critical consuming drawback.
The FBI director, 46, introduced his lawsuit on Monday in opposition to the journal and workers author Sarah Fitzpatrick, accusing them of publishing an article that was ‘replete with false and clearly fabricated allegations’ meant to ‘drive him from workplace.’
The article shared on April 17 ran with the headline, The FBI director is MIA, and alleged that Patel ‘has alarmed colleagues with episodes of extreme consuming and unexplained absences.’
Fitzpatrick cited nameless sources inside the FBI that stated Patel’s alcohol consumption made him unreachable at key moments and sophisticated the manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s murderer.
Brokers allegedly had to make use of SWAT breaching tools to interrupt down his door on one event, and Patel allegedly spiraled right into a nervous breakdown when he mistakenly believed he had been fired by President Trump, the article claimed.
Patel’s lawsuit says all these allegations are false and ‘outrageous.’ His attorneys say Fitzpatrick ‘relied totally on nameless sources she knew to be each extremely partisan with an ax to grind and likewise not able to know the details.’
The FBI director stated his group warned the outlet the article was ‘categorically false’ hours earlier than publication, and accused The Atlantic of getting a ‘long-running editorial animus’ towards him.
Patel is in search of damages of not less than $250 million in opposition to the journal.
Following the submitting of Patel’s lawsuit, The Atlantic instructed the Each day Mail in a press release: ‘We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we are going to vigorously defend and our journalists in opposition to this meritless lawsuit.’
FBI Director Kash Patel has launched a scathing lawsuit in opposition to The Atlantic over a ‘malicious and defamatory hit piece’ alleging he has a critical consuming drawback
Patel’s tenure on the FBI has allegedly been marred by ‘episodes of extreme consuming and unexplained absences’, in accordance with The Atlantic report that Patel described as ‘outrageous’
Since taking on the FBI in January 2025, Patel has been seen on events consuming alcohol, together with his headline-grabbing celebrations on the Winter Olympics earlier this 12 months.
His conduct on the Winter Olympics, the place he was filmed chugging beer with the US males’s hockey group following their gold medal victory, reportedly infuriated President Trump, who famously by no means drinks alcohol.
Within the article that Patel says is defamatory, it was alleged that the director’s ‘erratic’ conduct had involved many on the FBI throughout his tenure.
The claims included an alleged occasion final week wherein Patel ‘freaked out’ after mistakenly believing he had been fired as a consequence of a technical challenge that left him locked out of a pc system.
Fearing he was about to be fired by the Trump administration, he allegedly referred to as aides and allies in panic – a response that, in accordance with the report, shortly reached the White Home, in accordance with The Atlantic.
Nameless insiders instructed Fitzpatrick that Patel’s conduct has raised fears over whether or not the FBI might reply to a nationwide disaster or terror assault with him on the helm of the bureau.
‘That is what retains me up at night time,’ an unnamed official instructed the publication.
In his lawsuit filed Monday, Patel singles out 17 examples of what he describes as ‘false and defamatory statements’ in The Atlantic piece about his time main the FBI.
These embody allegations that he’s ‘recognized to drink to extra’ at well-known haunts Ned’s in Washington DC and The Poodle Room in Las Vegas, ‘the place he continuously spends components of his weekends.’
The article additionally said that Patel has been annoyed with ‘the look of FBI merchandise’, complaining that it ‘is not intimidating sufficient.’
The article shared on April 17 ran with the headline, The FBI director is MIA
The Atlantic’s report alleges that, early in his tenure main the bureau, conferences had been generally rescheduled later within the day to accommodate Patel’s consuming
Trump allegedly instructed Patel he was sad with the locker room footage from February displaying the director consuming beer and shouting with the Olympic gold-medalists
Following the publication of The Atlantic’s report about Patel’s consuming, the FBI director shortly slammed the ‘hit piece’ on-line, threatening to sue the outlet virtually instantly
In a press release to the Each day Mail following the submitting of the lawsuit, Patel stated: ‘The Atlantic’s story is a lie. They got the reality earlier than they revealed, they usually selected to print falsehoods anyway.
‘I took this job to guard the American individuals and this FBI has delivered probably the most prolific discount in crime in US historical past. Pretend information gained’t report it, and their toxicity won’t ever erode nor cease our Mission.’
Patel beforehand threatened authorized motion in opposition to The Atlantic virtually instantly after the article was revealed, branding it a ‘hit piece.’
In a submit on X, Patel shared a screenshot of an electronic mail from FBI communications official Benjamin Williamson to Fitzpatrick, which described the article as ‘utterly false and practically one hundred pc clip.’
The e-mail learn: ‘High to backside, this is without doubt one of the most absurd issues I’ve ever learn. Utterly false and practically 100% clip. And with a two-hour deadline.’
Within the caption, Patel wrote: ‘See you and your total entourage of false reporting in court docket. However do preserve at it with the faux information, precise malice customary is now what some would name a authorized lay up.’
In his lawsuit filed on Monday, Patel accused The Atlantic of failing to search out ‘a single particular person to go on the document’ with the allegations, saying the article was constructed totally on nameless sources.
‘Defendants can not evade duty for his or her malicious lies by hiding behind sham sources,’ the lawsuit stated.
The Atlantic’s report additionally alleged that early in his tenure main the bureau, conferences had been pressured to be rescheduled later within the day to accommodate what it describes as Patel’s alleged ‘nighttime consuming’ habits.
Ingesting to the ‘apparent level of intoxication,’ as alleged within the report, violates FBI conduct guidelines and leaves the nation’s prime legislation enforcement official susceptible to the potential danger of coercion or exploitation.
Sarah Fitzpatrick, the writer of the Atlantic article, stated she ‘stands by each phrase of this reporting’ after it was slammed by Patel and his group
Patel’s adviser Erica Knight launched a press release on X stating that Patel has solely taken off a ‘grand complete of 17 days’ and has labored greater than his predecessors
It’s alleged that Patel’s consuming habits additionally broken the high-profile manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s murderer in September 2025, the place Patel bungled the announcement of a ‘suspect’ in custody.
Hours after the killing of the conservative activist, Patel took to X to announce that the ‘topic’ in Kirk’s homicide was lastly ‘in custody.’
However he walked again his earlier assertion shortly after, asserting that the suspect ‘has been launched after an interrogation by legislation enforcement.’ A unique suspect, Tyler Robinson, was later arrested and charged with the homicide.
Two sources with data of his actions revealed that he was really in New York Metropolis that night, eating at Rao’s – the high-end Italian hotspot that opens at 7pm promptly, as reported by NBC Information.
In response to The Atlantic’s latest bombshell claims, Patel’s advisor Erica Knight launched a pointed assertion on X, calling it a narrative ‘that each actual DC reporter chased, could not confirm, and handed on.’
The Atlantic report alleged that officers are more and more alarmed about whether or not the FBI might reply to a nationwide disaster like a terror assault with Patel on the helm
‘Here is actuality. Since being sworn in, Director Patel has taken a grand complete of 17 days off – half as a lot time without work as Comey and Wray – and he spends twice as a lot time within the workplace as both of them ever did,’ Knight wrote.
‘The so-called “intoxication incidents” The Atlantic breathlessly reviews have occurred precisely ZERO instances,’ she added.
She went on to checklist statistics she stated had been achieved beneath Patel’s tenure, together with 67,000 arrests nationwide and ‘2,200+ kilos of fentanyl seized – sufficient to kill 178 million People.’
‘The Atlantic’s “reporting”? Fabricated tales about “breaching tools” that was by no means requested. Intoxication claims with not a single witness prepared to place their title on one,’ she wrote.
‘Each critical DC reporter handed on this. Sarah Fitzpatrick and Jeffrey Goldberg printed it anyway,’ she added. ‘Lawsuit is being filed.’
