FBI Director Kash Patel gestures during testimony during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on September 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington, DC, USA.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel announced Sunday that he is suing The Atlantic for defamation over a new article reporting that people frequently drink too much alcohol.
Patel said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that he would file the lawsuit on Monday.
“We are not going to sit back and accept this,” Patel said. “You want to attack my character? Come and bring it to me. I’ll see you in court.”
Asked if he planned to sue the magazine, Patel said: “Absolutely, there will be a lawsuit tomorrow.”
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel,” Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg said in a statement to CNBC.
On Friday, the magazine published a detailed article citing more than 20 sources who made bombshell statements about Patel’s actions.
Sources told the publication that Patel frequently drank to the point of intoxication and that security guards sometimes had trouble waking him up because he was clearly inebriated.
The Atlantic reported that in one instance, a request for an “intrusion device” was made because Patel was unable to be contacted behind a locked door. The magazine also reported that early in his tenure, meetings had to be rescheduled to later in the day due to drinking.
Current and former officials told The Atlantic they fear Mr. Patel’s actions could endanger the country, especially as the United States goes to war with Iran, a major state sponsor of terrorism.
Patel’s lawyer, Jesse Vinal, said in a letter to The Atlantic posted in X that he warned the magazine that some of its reporting was false.
Mr. Vinal asked the magazine not to publish claims that Mr. Patel was drinking excessively at the Neds club in D.C. or the Poodle Room in Las Vegas, that security guards were unable to wake him up, and that Mr. Patel’s actions posed a threat to public safety.
“If The Atlantic chooses to publish this patently false and defamatory article, Director Patel will have no choice but to take swift legal action to protect his reputation,” the letter, signed by Vinal and attorney Jared Roberts, said.
The Atlantic revealed in 2025 that Trump administration officials added editor Goldberg to a Signal text message chain that included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about U.S. bombing of Houthi targets in Yemen.
Patel, a longtime Trump supporter, was confirmed as FBI director last year over the objections of all Democrats and two Republicans, who warned of her lack of experience and past controversial comments.
Patel recently made headlines for chugging beer after Team USA won the gold medal in ice hockey at the 2026 Olympics.
