FBI Director Kash Patel has sued The Atlantic magazine over a ‘malicious and defamatory hit piece’ alleging he has a serious drinking problem.
Patel, 46, brought his lawsuit on Monday against the magazine and staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick, accusing them of publishing an article that was ‘replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations’ meant to ‘drive him from office.’
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 excessive drinking and unexplained absences.’
Fitzpatrick cited anonymous sources within the FBI that said Patel’s drinking made him unreachable at key moments, and complicated the manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s assassin.
Agents allegedly had to use SWAT breaching equipment to break down his door on one occasion, and Patel allegedly spiraled into a nervous breakdown when he mistakenly believed he had been fired by President Trump, the article claimed.
Patel’s lawsuit says all those allegations are false and ‘outrageous.’ His lawyers say Fitzpatrick ‘relied entirely on anonymous sources she knew to be both highly partisan with an ax to grind and also not in a position to know the facts.’
The FBI Director said his team warned the outlet the article was ‘categorically false’ hours before publication, and accused The Atlantic of having a ‘long-running editorial animus’ toward him.
Patel is seeking damages of at least $250 million against The Atlantic.
Following the filing of Patel’s lawsuit, The Atlantic told the Daily Mail in a statement: ‘We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.’
Since taking over the FBI in January 2025, Patel has been seen on occasions drinking alcohol, including his headline-grabbing celebrations at the Winter Olympics earlier this year.
His behavior at the Winter Olympics, where he was filmed chugging beer with the US men’s hockey team following their gold medal victory, reportedly infuriated President Trump – who famously never drinks alcohol.
In the article that Patel says is defamatory, it was alleged that the director’s ‘erratic’ behavior had concerned many at the FBI during his tenure.
The claims included an alleged instance last week in which Patel ‘freaked out’ after mistakenly believing he had been fired due to a technical issue that left him locked out of a computer system.
Fearing he was about to be fired by the Trump administration, he allegedly called aides and allies in panic – a reaction that, according to the report, quickly reached the White House, according to The Atlantic.
Anonymous insiders told Fitzpatrick that Patel’s conduct has raised fears over whether the FBI could respond to a national crisis or terror attack with him at the helm of the bureau.
‘That’s what keeps me up at night,’ an unnamed official told 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 leading the FBI.
These include allegations that he is ‘known to drink to excess’ at famous haunts Ned’s in Washington DC and The Poodle Room in Las Vegas, ‘where he frequently spends parts of his weekends.’
The article also stated that Patel has been frustrated with ‘the look of FBI merchandise’, complaining that it ‘isn’t intimidating enough.’
In a statement to the Daily Mail following the filing of the lawsuit, Patel said: ‘The Atlantic’s story is a lie. They were given the truth before they published, and they chose to print falsehoods anyway.
‘I took this job to protect the American people and this FBI has delivered the most prolific reduction in crime in US history. Fake news won’t report it, and their toxicity will never erode nor stop our Mission.’
The lawsuit on Monday came after Patel previously threatened legal action against The Atlantic almost immediately after the article was published, branding it a ‘hit piece.’
In a post on X, Patel shared a screenshot of an email from FBI communications official Benjamin Williamson to Fitzpatrick, which described the article as ‘completely false and nearly 100 percent clip.’
The email read: ‘Top to bottom, this is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever read. Completely false and nearly 100% clip. And with a two hour deadline.’
In the caption, Patel wrote: ‘See you and your entire entourage of false reporting in court. But do keep at it with the fake news, actual malice standard is now what some would call a legal lay up.’
In his lawsuit filed on Monday, Patel accused The Atlantic of failing to find ‘a single person to go on the record’ with the allegations, saying the article was built entirely on anonymous sources.
‘Defendants cannot evade responsibility for their malicious lies by hiding behind sham sources,’ the lawsuit said.
The Atlantic’s report also alleged that early in his tenure leading the bureau, meetings were forced to be rescheduled later in the day to accommodate what it describes as Patel’s alleged ‘nighttime drinking’ habits.
Drinking to the ‘obvious point of intoxication,’ as alleged in the report, violates FBI conduct rules and leaves the nation’s top law enforcement official vulnerable to the possible risk of coercion or exploitation.
It is alleged that Patel’s drinking habits also damaged the high-profile manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s assassin in September 2025, where 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 ‘subject’ in Kirk’s murder was finally ‘in custody.’
But he walked back his earlier statement shortly after, announcing that the suspect ‘has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.’ A different suspect, Tyler Robinson, was later arrested and charged over the murder.
Two sources with knowledge of his movements revealed that he was actually in New York City that evening, dining at Rao’s – the high-end Italian hotspot that opens at 7pm promptly, as reported by NBC News.
In response to The Atlantic’s recent bombshell claims, Patel’s advisor Erica Knight released a pointed statement on X, calling it a story ‘that every real DC reporter chased, couldn’t verify, and passed on.’
‘Here’s reality. Since being sworn in, Director Patel has taken a grand total of 17 days off – half as much time off as Comey and Wray – and he spends twice as much time in the office as either of them ever did,’ Knight wrote.
‘The so-called “intoxication incidents” The Atlantic breathlessly reports have happened exactly ZERO times,’ she added.
She went on to list statistics she said were achieved under Patel’s tenure, including 67,000 arrests nationwide and ‘2,200+ kilos of fentanyl seized – enough to kill 178 million Americans.’
‘The Atlantic’s “reporting”? Fabricated stories about “breaching equipment” that was never requested. Intoxication claims with not a single witness willing to put their name on one,’ she wrote.
‘Every serious DC reporter passed on this. Sarah Fitzpatrick and Jeffrey Goldberg printed it anyway,’ she added. ‘Lawsuit is being filed.’
