Kash Patel sues The Atlantic over report alleging excessive drinking and absences

Trump administrationKash Patel sues The Atlantic over report alleging excessive drinking and absencesThe FBI director is seeking $250 million from the magazine after it published a report about his alleged behavior and leadership at the bureau.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00FBI Director Kash Patel is suiting The Atlantic over a report alleging excessive drinking and absences from the agency.Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 20, 2026, 12:43 PM EDTBy Ryan J. Reilly and Rebecca ShabadFBI Director Kash Patel filed a lawsuit Monday against The Atlantic over a story it published Friday that alleged he drinks to excess and has had unexplained absences at the bureau. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.His attorneys allege in the lawsuit that the story is a “sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece," and Patel is seeking $250 million from the magazine.The report's opening anecdote said that Patel was locked out of an internal computer system at the FBI on April 10, which convinced the FBI director that he had been fired by the White House and prompted him to call aides and allies, the magazine reported, citing nine people familiar with his outreach.In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Patel’s lawyers confirmed that the FBI director had been locked out of the bureau's computer system April 10, describing the issue as a “routine technical problem logging into a government system, which was quickly fixed.” That incident quickly sparked inquires from numerous news outlets, including NBC News, about whether Patel had been fired, which administration officials subsequently denied. Patel’s lawsuit said it was "false" that he had "panicked" or engaged in a "freak-out" over the incident, and said the FBI told The Atlantic before publication that talk of his firing was a "made-up rumor." The FBI did not immediately r...