FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday issued a forceful public denial to the news media of an article that claimed his drinking sometimes made him difficult to contact, causing concern to colleagues and his security detail.
After that he came in front of journalists for the first time Atlantic Exposé was published last week, a defiant Patel framed the story as part of a deliberate effort to humiliate him, pointing to the defamation suit filed on Monday against the magazine and warning other journalists they could be next if they repeat the allegations.
“I can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia and when they’re loud, it means I’m doing my job,” Patel said in response to questions during an unrelated announcement at Justice Department headquarters. “I have never drunk drugs on the job, and that’s why we filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit. And any of you who want to participate can do so.”
Patel emphasized in detail that he has put in more work hours than any of his predecessors and that his efforts have resulted in fewer murders, more detective arrests and fewer opioid deaths. “I’m at work. I’m the first one in. I’m the last one out,” he said.
But the FBI chief also tried to address an image that has fueled perceptions that he sometimes goes overboard: the video of him drinking beer while celebrating in the locker room with players on the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team in February after they defeated Canada to win the gold medal in Milan, Italy.
“I’m just a typical American who loves his country, loves the game of hockey and when my friends win gold medals, I champion them and invite me to celebrate,” Patel said.
During a press conference about the federal fraud indictment of a prominent civil rights group, Patel and an NBC News reporter got into a verbal altercation when the reporter pressed Patel on a claim in an Atlantic article: After an incident where Patel could not log into his FBI computer, he told colleagues he was concerned he was being ostracized because he had been fired by President Donald Trump.
Patel said, “The problem with you and your baseless reporting is that it is blatant lies. That was never said. That never happened. And I will serve in this administration as long as the President and the Attorney General want me to.” “I was never locked out of my system.”
Reporter Ryan Reilly responded, “Your lawsuit says the opposite.”
Patel replied, “Whoever says that… is lying.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch criticized the Atlantic story for relying on anonymous sources and making false claims in response to a question about Patel’s alleged intoxication, which he said he had not read.
“My concerns are entirely about the anonymous reporting that continues to emerge,” Blanch said. “But when you have a group of people who are hiding behind closed curtains saying things that we’re not willing to say publicly, and there are parts of the article that are obviously false, because obviously, I was told something I wasn’t. That’s questionable.”
The Atlantic said in a statement after Patel filed the lawsuit defended his journalism.
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel and will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this frivolous lawsuit,” the statement said.
