Embattled FBI Director Kash Patel said he is filing a defamation lawsuit Monday against The Atlantic after the magazine published a scathing report about his alleged excessive drinking and other concerning conduct.
Patel threatened to sue the publication Friday after The Atlantic’s Sarah Fitzpatrick reported the FBI chief is allegedly deeply paranoid about being fired and often drinks to excess, alarming officials at the agency and beyond.
“We are not going to take this laying down,” Patel told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures. “You want to attack my character? Come at me. Bring it on. I’ll see you in court.”
Bartiromo asked Patel, “So you’re going to sue them?”
“Absolutely. It’s coming tomorrow,” he replied.
“Tomorrow, you will be dropping a lawsuit against The Atlantic magazine?” the Fox host asked.
“Yes, yes, I will for defamation,” Patel said. “And because, you know what, Maria, we have to fight back against the fake news… I won’t tolerate their attacks on me.”
He added that the reporting about his alleged conduct was also an “indirect attack” on the men and women of the FBI.
Fitzpatrick has doubled down on her reporting and told MS NOW: “We have excellent attorneys.”
The journalist also told CNN that White House officials are “openly discussing” who will be the next FBI director.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not directly address the firing claim but touted Patel’s leadership at the FBI in a previous statement to The Independent.
“Under President Trump and Director Patel’s leadership at the FBI, crime across the country has plummeted to the lowest level in more than 100 years and many high profile criminals have been put behind bars,” Leavitt said. “Director Patel remains a critical player on the Administration’s law and order team.”
The Atlantic report, published Friday evening, claimed that Patel is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication at clubs in Washington, D.C. and his home city of Las Vegas, violating FBI conduct standards and potentially leaving the nation’s top law enforcement official vulnerable to coercion or exploitation.
The director’s drinking reportedly angered President Donald Trump, who is famously sober, and whose brother died from alcoholism-related health issues. Trump called Patel after the director was seen chugging beer with members of the victorious U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team to express his displeasure, according to the report.
Sources told The Atlantic that Patel’s alleged conduct at the helm of the FBI has alarmed officials about what would happen if the bureau was needed in a national crisis, such as a terror attack.
When contacted for comment by The Independent, the FBI referred to statements posted on social media by Patel and the bureau’s communications officials.
“No amount of BS you write will ever deter this FBI from making America safe again and taking down the criminals you love,” Patel said Saturday on X.
FBI assistant director for public affairs, Benjamin Williamson, called The Atlantic’s article “completely false at a nearly 100 percent clip.”
Erica Knight, a longtime adviser to Patel, wrote on X that far from being an absentee leader, Patel has worked more days than his predecessors.
Knight, who was hired by Patel to help shakeup the FBI’s communications strategy according to CBS News, alleged that the magazine’s reporting was based on claims that “every real D.C. reporter chased, couldn’t verify, and passed on.”
Jesse Binnall, an attorney representing Patel, called the article “categorically false and defamatory” in a post on X.
Josh Marcus contributed to this report
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