FBI Director Kash Patel has launched a $250 million lawsuit against The Atlantic magazine, accusing it of publishing a “malicious and defamatory” article built on fabricated allegations designed to force him from office.
Patel, 46, filed the lawsuit on Monday against the publication and staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick, targeting a piece published on 17 April under the headline The FBI Director Is MIA. The article alleged that Patel had “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences,” claiming his alcohol consumption had made him unreachable during critical moments — including, according to anonymous sources cited in the piece, a manhunt for the assassin of Charlie Kirk. The article further alleged that agents were forced on one occasion to use SWAT breaching equipment to gain access to him, and that Patel had experienced a breakdown after mistakenly believing he had been dismissed by President Trump following a routine computer login failure.
Patel’s legal team dismissed every allegation as false and “outrageous,” arguing that Fitzpatrick had relied entirely on anonymous sources who were “highly partisan with an axe to grind” and lacked direct knowledge of the facts. The lawsuit identifies 17 specific statements it describes as defamatory, including claims that Patel drinks to excess at venues in Washington DC and Las Vegas, that FBI meetings were rescheduled to accommodate his alleged late-night drinking habits, and that his conduct had left senior officials questioning whether the bureau could function effectively under his leadership during a national emergency. One unnamed official was quoted in the article as saying the situation was “what keeps me up at night.”
Patel’s team said they had alerted The Atlantic to the falsity of the claims hours before publication, a warning the magazine disregarded. In a post on X, Patel shared an internal FBI communications email describing the piece as “completely false and nearly 100 per cent clip,” adding: “See you and your entire entourage of false reporting in court.”
The Atlantic has shown no sign of retreating. In a statement following the filing, the magazine said it stood by its reporting and would “vigorously defend” itself and its journalists against what it called a “meritless lawsuit.”
The case arrives in a charged context. Patel was filmed drinking beer with the US men’s ice hockey team at the Winter Olympics earlier this year following their gold medal victory — footage that reportedly irritated President Trump, who does not drink alcohol. Patel has led the FBI since January 2025.
