FBI Director Kash Patel gestures while he testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 16, 2025.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel said Sunday he will sue The Atlantic magazine for defamation over a new article reporting that he frequently drinks alcohol to excess.
Patel said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that he would file the lawsuit Monday.
“We are not going to take this lying down,” Patel said. “You want to attack my character? Come at me, bring it on. I’ll see you in court.”
Pressed if he was planning to sue the magazine, Patel said, “Absolutely, it’s coming 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 two dozen sources who made bombshell claims about Patel’s behavior.
The sources told the magazine that Patel frequently drinks to the point of conspicuous intoxication, and that his security detail has at times struggled to wake him due to apparent inebriation.
In one instance, The Atlantic reported, a request for “breaching equipment” was made because Patel was unreachable behind locked doors. The magazine also reported that, early in his tenure, meetings had to be rescheduled to later in the day due to his drinking.
Current and former officials told The Atlantic that they worry Patel’s behavior puts the country in danger, especially as the U.S. wages a war with Iran, a leading state sponsor of terror.
Patel’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, in a letter to The Atlantic that was posted to X, said he warned the magazine that several pieces of its reporting were false.
Binnall asked the magazine not to publish claims that Patel drinks to excess at D.C. club Ned’s and The Poodle Room in Las Vegas, the details about his security detail being unable to wake him, and claims that his conduct was threatening public safety, among other details in the story.
“[S]hould The Atlantic choose to publish this demonstrably false and defamatory article, Director Patel will have no choice but to take swift legal action to uphold his reputation,” the letter signed by lawyers Binnall and Jared Roberts said.
The Atlantic in 2025 revealed that a Trump administration official had added its editor, Goldberg, to a Signal text message chain that included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about the U.S. bombing Houthi targets in Yemen.
Patel is a longtime Trump loyalist who was confirmed as FBI director last year, over the objection of all Democrats and two Republicans, who warned about his lack of experience and prior controversial statements.
Patel made headlines recently for chugging a beer after Team USA won the gold medal in ice hockey in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
