Published on 20 April 2026
FBI Director Cash Patel has filed a defamation lawsuit Friday against The Atlantic and its reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick, following the publication of an article alleging that the director had a drinking problem that could pose a threat to the national security of the United States.
The Atlantic said it stands by its reporting and will vigorously defend itself against the “meritless lawsuit” filed Monday.
The magazine’s story, initially titled “I wish Patel could lose his job because of his erratic behavior”, cited more than two dozen anonymous sources expressing concern about Patel’s “apparent intoxication and unexplained absences”, which “alarmed FBI and Justice Department officials”.
The article, which The Atlantic later titled “The FBI Director is MIA” in its online edition, reported that during Patel’s tenure, the FBI had to reschedule preliminary meetings “as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights out” and that Patel “often remained distant or unreachable, thereby delaying time-sensitive decisions needed to move the investigation forward”.
In The Atlantic’s story, the White House, the Justice Department, and Patel denied the allegations. The article included a statement from the FBI quoting Patel, “Print it, it’s all lies, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”
In the lawsuit filed in District Court in Washington, Patel denied allegations of his behavior and criticized the magazine for relying on unnamed sources. Fitzpatrick wrote that she interviewed more than two dozen people and granted them anonymity to “discuss sensitive information and private conversations.”
“Defendants cannot avoid responsibility for their malicious lies by hiding behind fake sources,” the lawsuit said.
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel and will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this frivolous lawsuit,” the magazine said in a statement.
Reuters could not independently establish the accuracy of the article or why the publication changed the headline.
Patel’s complaint states that while The Atlantic is free to criticize the FBI’s leadership, they “crossed the legal line by publishing an article filled with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and remove him from office.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks $250 million in damages.
The lawsuit alleges that The Atlantic ignored the FBI’s denials and did not respond to a Friday letter from Patel’s attorney, Jesse Binnall, to senior editors and the Atlantic’s legal department asking for more time to refute the 19 allegations that the reporter told the FBI press office she would publish.
“This is one of the strongest possible evidence of actual malice,” it said.
“The Atlantic’s story is a lie,” Patel said in an interview with Reuters. “They were told the truth before publishing, and they chose to print the lies anyway.”
Acting with ‘actual malice’
According to the complaint, the letter, seen by Reuters, was sent shortly before 4 pm (20:00 GMT) on Friday, and The Atlantic published the story at 6:20 pm (22:20 GMT). Reuters could not determine whether The Atlantic responded to Binnall’s request.
The lawsuit alleges that the publication acted with “actual malice”, a legal standard that requires the publisher to knowingly print false information or ignore doubts about its accuracy for public figures like Patel.
“Defendants’ conscious decision to ignore detailed, specific and cogent denials in the pre-publication letter, and to refuse to give the FBI and Director Patel a reasonable time to respond, is among the strongest possible evidence of actual malice,” the lawsuit says.
Binnall is a prominent Republican attorney who has represented US President Donald Trump in several civil cases, including a case brought by US Capitol Police officers over his role in the riots in Washington, DC on January 6, 2020. Binnall has represented Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as well as former national security adviser Mike Flynn, and faced Trump’s challenge to Nevada’s 2020 election results.
The lawsuit is the latest example of someone from the Trump administration suing a media outlet. A judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Trump against CNN for denying the election as a “big lie.” Judges have also dismissed Trump’s lawsuits against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Trump has re-filed his lawsuit against the New York Times and may also file a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal.
They have also secured some settlements. ABC News agreed to settle a case for $15 million plus $1 million in legal fees. Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle a dispute over what it called “misleading editing” of a CBS News interview with her opponent in the 2024 election, Kamala Harris.
