FBI director threatens to sue magazine after report citing “administrative failure” and alleged alcohol abuse

See the videos that are trending on g1 FBI director Kash Patel, hacked and exposed in April, said he will sue The Atlantic magazine and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick for defamation, after the publication of an article on Friday (17). The report describes a series of behaviors considered erratic by the head of the United States intelligence agency — among them, alleged excessive alcohol consumption, including while at work. For sources interviewed by the newspaper, this indicates an “administrative failure” that puts national security in “vulnerability”. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday (19), Patel classified the content, originally titled ‘Kash Patel’s erratic behavior could cost him his job’, as “fake news”. “I will not tolerate attacks”, he said, including the magazine in what he calls the “fake news mafia”. “They will never be able to stop the mission that President Donald Trump gave me.” 👉 In the online version, the headline was changed to “The FBI Director is missing”, in reference to rescheduled meetings and absences described as frequent. 👉 The text reports an episode in which Patel, when unable to access the corporation’s internal system, caused confusion: upon believing he had been fired, he went into a “panic”, which led the White House to receive calls from FBI agents and members of Congress questioning who was in charge. “In the end, it was all just a big lie,” an agent reportedly told the reporter. According to the publication, the episode would highlight Patel’s fear about remaining in office. The director has been a frequent target of headlines for different controversies. For example, according to reporting by The New York Times, he was also criticized by agents for using Swat teams to protect his girlfriend, country singer and conservative activist Alexis Wilkins. The Atlantic article also states that, according to colleagues, Patel’s management is an “administrative failure” and that his personal behavior represents a “vulnerability to national security”. The sources interviewed reported that the problems go beyond what was already known and include “obvious drunkenness” and unexplained absences. Kash Patel, chosen by Trump to head the FBI. AP Photo/José Luis Villegas, File “The IT lockdown situation is emblematic of Patel’s tumultuous tenure as FBI director: he is erratic, suspicious and prone to jumping to conclusions before gathering the necessary evidence,” wrote Fitzpatrick, citing more than two dozen interviewees, including current and former FBI employees, members of security and intelligence agencies, members of Congress, political operators, lobbyists and former aides. The accusations add to the controversy in April, when Patel had personal photos exposed after a hacker attack attributed to a group linked to Iran, amid the war in the Middle East. The episode raised concerns about the possibility of sensitive information being leaked. After publication, Patel defended himself again on Sunday, in an interview with Fox News, presenting data on the fight against violence in the country. To The Atlantic, the White House, the Department of Justice and the director himself denied the allegations. “The story is a lie,” Patel told Reuters. “They were given the truth before publication and yet they chose to spread falsehoods.” The magazine responded that it will stand by the report: “We will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.”

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