FBI director sues The Atlantic over article portraying him as problem drinker, ‘missing in action’
Washington: FBI Director Kash Patel files lawsuit Atlantic magazine for an explosive article that portrayed him as “missing in action” and a problem drinker whose behavior alarmed those around him at the nation’s top crime-fighting agency.
The article, published Friday, said multiple witnesses described Patel’s “binge drinking bouts” and reported widespread concerns in the U.S. government about his apparent drunkenness.
On multiple occasions last year, members of Patel’s security team “had difficulty waking up” [him] because he was apparently drunk”, Atlantic He reported, citing “information provided to Justice Department and White House officials.”
The magazine claimed that because Patel could not be reached behind a locked door, staff at one point requested “breach equipment,” the ramming equipment used by SWAT and hostage teams to enter buildings.
Patel’s colleagues are reportedly concerned that his behavior has become a threat to public safety and that he may be missing or unavailable while responding to a domestic terrorist attack.
Patel, a Donald Trump loyalist and a national security official during the first Trump administration, was appointed by the president in part to reform the FBI following what both men believe was the politicization and weaponization of the FBI under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden.
Patel’s lawyers said in the lawsuit filed Monday morning (US time) in the US District Court for the District of Columbia: Atlantic The article constituted “wide-ranging, malicious and defamatory reporting” that exceeded the legal limit and contained “false and clearly fabricated allegations.”
The complaint stated that journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick “failed to get a single person to come forward on the record to defend these outrageous allegations” and instead relied on anonymous sources, “which she knew were both highly partisan and not in a position to know the facts.”
Patel also accused the magazine of having a “well-documented, long-standing editorial animus” against him, of not giving him sufficient time to respond to his questions and of “deliberately structuring the pre-publication process to avoid receiving information that would refute his narratives.”
Atlantic In a statement, he said he stood by his reporting and would strongly defend himself and Fitzpatrick against the “meritless lawsuit.”
While rumors were circulating in Washington about Patel’s fate as FBI director, unnamed sources were briefing media outlets that Trump, as well as other senior appointees and cabinet members, were unhappy with him.
Patel spotted during his official trip to Italy for this year’s Winter Olympics drinking beer in the locker room A clip that went viral after he won a gold medal with the American men’s hockey team.
Patel gave an interview to Fox News on Sunday (US time) blamed the “fake news mafia” for trying to tarnish his reputation and hinted that he would sue for libel.
He also defended his record on reducing violent crime, reducing opiate overdose deaths, fentanyl seizures and reducing the flow of the lethal drug into the United States.
According to the Criminal Justice Council, homicides are down more than 20 percent in 2025 and are on track for the lowest level since 1900, when the data was completed.
“If I’m not doing my job, if I’m not working, then how is it that the FBI, under President Trump’s leadership, has made America the safest in the history of our country?” Patel said on Fox News.
Trump has not made a public statement of support for Patel since then. Atlantic published his story. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the magazine that crime has decreased under Patel’s leadership of the FBI and that Patel “remains a critical player on the administration’s law and order team.”
If Trump moves against Patel, the FBI director would join a growing list of high-level appointees who have been purged in recent months, following the removal of Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security and Pam Bondi as attorney general.
The FBI is of particular concern to Trump. The investigation into allegations of collusion between Russia and senior officials in Trump’s 2016 campaign marked the early part of Trump’s first term and led to his firing of James Comey as FBI director in 2017.
Trump continues to consider Comey one of his political enemies and, in his second term, pressured Bondi and the Justice Department to bring charges against Comey. These charges, that he lied to Congress, were dismissed after the judge found that these charges were improperly brought.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
