Kash Patel files defamation lawsuit against Atlantic
FBI Director Kash Patel has filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic, citing false and damaging claims.
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said President Donald Trump still has confidence in FBI Director Kash Patel. The secretary of state has come under intense scrutiny following a report in The Atlantic that said he had been drinking excessively and that his actions could jeopardize national security.
After the article was published, Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic. Asked about the article at a press conference on April 21, Patel said, “I will never listen to the fake news mafia…When their voices get louder, that means I’m doing my job.”
“I never got drunk on the job, so I filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit,” Patel added.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, told CNBC that the magazine stands by its reporting.
Asked about Trump’s views on Patel, Levitt told reporters at the White House on April 24: “The president still has confidence in the FBI director and our law and order team, who have done a very good job over the past year and a half.” She noted that crime rates had decreased during Patel’s tenure.
The Atlantic article cited interviews with more than 20 anonymous sources who “described Mr. Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal actions as a national security vulnerability.” Officials expressed concern about “significant intoxication and unexplained absences.” According to the article, the FBI’s early morning meeting had to be rescheduled because of Patel’s “nights of alcohol intoxication” and “several times over the past year, members of his security detail had difficulty waking him because he appeared to be so intoxicated.”
Mr. Patel’s actions “often alarmed FBI and Justice Department officials,” The Atlantic reported.
After this article was published, Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Patel asking her to undergo an alcohol use disorder screening test and submit it to the committee.
Contributed by: Reuters
