More than a dozen House Democrats are launching an investigation into Kash Patel’s alleged alcohol abuse and calling on the FBI director to submit to screening and share the results with Congress.
The letter from Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee follows reporting from The Atlantic that characterizes Patel as a deeply paranoid figure prone to drinking to excess and whose alleged behavior has alarmed officials inside Donald Trump’s administration.
Patel has filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the outlet and the journalist, whose reporting relied on interviews with more than two dozen people familiar with his behavior.
Democrats led by Rep. Jamie Raskin said the allegations appear to reflect a “pattern of habitual alcohol abuse that may constitute a severe national security vulnerability.”
They have asked the director to submit to a “gold standard” 10-question Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test by next week. If he doesn’t, the committee “will be requiring him to appear at a hearing in person and under oath to address members’ well-founded concerns,” they wrote.
“We understand that you have sued the journalists who have reported on the widespread concerns about your job performance and alcohol abuse, demanding a whopping $250 million in damages, plus disgorgement of income,” the letter states.
“However, the American people deserve to hear the facts directly from you now — not your lawyers weeks or months from now — to determine for ourselves whether your continued leadership of the FBI in fact constitutes a severe ‘national security vulnerability,’” according to the letter.
The questionnaire asks Patel such questions as “how many drinks containing alcohol do you have on a typical day when you are drinking” and “how often during the last year have you failed to do what was normally expected from you because of drinking.”
Democrats asked Patel to fill out the questionnaire and sent the answers to the committee no later than 5 p.m. April 28, “given the urgency and gravity of the risks to our nation and our people.”
They also requested a sworn statement “attesting that your answers are true under the penalty of perjury.”
Democrats also sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee’s Republican chair Jim Jordan asking for bipartisan cooperation on the investigation.
“Given the severity of the national security risks associated with these issues, we request that you make clear to Director Patel that if he fails to provide the requested information by next week’s deadline, the Committee will be requiring him to appear at a hearing in person and under oath to address Members’ well-founded concerns,” they wrote.
In their first public remarks following The Atlantic’s report, Patel and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday lambasted reporters who pressed the nation’s top law enforcement officials about Patel’s alleged behavior at the bureau.
“I never listen to the fake news mafia,” Patel said during Tuesday’s briefing at the Department of Justice. “When they get louder, it just means I’m doing my job.”
The Atlantic’s Sarah Fitzpatrick reported that Patel’s FBI colleagues have grown increasingly alarmed with the director’s alleged pattern of unexplained absences and excessive drinking in Washington, D.C., and in his home city of Las Vegas — violations of FBI conduct standards that could potentially leave the nation’s top law enforcement official vulnerable to coercion or exploitation.
Patel’s alleged drinking has also reportedly angered the president. Trump allegedly called Patel after the director was seen chugging beer with members of the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team in widely shared footage on social media.
Asked Tuesday whether he considered that “appropriate” behavior for the FBI director, Blanche said “that has nothing to do with the article.”
“I’m like an everyday American who loves his country, loves the sport of hockey, and champions my friends when they raise a gold medal and invite me in to celebrate,” Patel said. “I’ve never been intoxicated on the job, and that’s why we filed a $250 million lawsuit. Any one of you that wants to participate? Bring it on. I’ll see you in court.”
The Independent has requested comment from the FBI and Jordan’s office.
The Atlantic is standing by its reporting.
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,” the outlet previously told The Independent.
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