FBI director Kash Patel has filed a lawsuit against The Atlantic and journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick over what his lawyers have labeled a “sweeping, malicious and defamatory hit piece” about his leadership at the agency.
A profile published over the weekend characterized Patel as a deeply paranoid figure prone to drinking to excess and whose behavior has alarmed officials at the law enforcement agency and across Donald Trump’s administration.
Patel threatened to sue the magazine following its publication.
“Defendants are of course free to criticize the leadership of the FBI, but they crossed the legal line by publishing an article replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office,” according to a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. on Monday.
The suit is seeking “compensatory, special, and punitive damages” no less than $250 million, as well as the “disgorgement of all income Defendants have earned by virtue of their lies about Director Patel.”
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,” the outlet said in a statement to The Independent.
The Atlantic reports 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 couple potentially leave the nation’s top law enforcement official vulnerable to coercion or exploitation.
Patel’s drinking has also reportedly angered the president, whose brother died from alcoholism-related health issues; 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.
The report, which relied on interviews with more than two dozen people familiar with Patel’s conduct, said senior members of the Trump administration are discussing Patel’s potential replacement.
“Memo to the fake news — the only time I’ll ever actually be concerned about the hit piece lies you write about me will be when you stop,” Patel wrote on X on Saturday. “Keep talking, it means I’m doing exactly what I should be doing. And no amount of BS you write will ever deter this FBI from making America safe again and taking down the criminals you love.”
He told Fox Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Baritromo on Sunday that “we are not going to take this lying down.”
“You want to attack my character? Come at me. Bring it on. I’ll see you in court,” he added.
This is a developing story
🚨 BREAKING: Watch the full clip here ➤
