FBI Director Kash Patel initiated a lawsuit against The Atlantic magazine, seeking $250 million in damages for defamation stemming from an article that claims he has a problem with alcohol.
Over the weekend, Patel had promised to take legal action against The Atlantic regarding the article that was released on Friday, which bore the title “Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job.”
“The FBI director has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences,” the article’s subhead says.
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Kash Patel’s lawsuit against The Atlantic: 5 things to know
- Patel has filed a 19-page lawsuit in the U.S. District Court located in Washington, D.C. Alongside The Atlantic, the civil complaint identifies the article’s author, Sarah Fitzpatrick, as a defendant. The lawsuit states that Patel aims to hold the defendants “accountable for a sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece.”
- “Defendants are of course free to criticize the leadership of the FBI, but they crossed the legal line by publishing an article replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office,” the suit claims.
- The complaint asserts that the magazine and Fitzpatrick published the article “with actual malice, despite being expressly warned, hours before publication, that the central allegations were categorically false.”
- Patel’s lawsuit enumerates 17 specific assertions made by the article as being part of the purportedly “numerous false and defamatory statements of fact” regarding him.
- Blasting the Atlantic, the lawsuit mentions that the outlet reported a “request for ‘breaching equipment’ — normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings — was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors.” “Director Patel does not drink to excess at these establishments or anywhere else, and this has not, and has never been, a source of concern across the government,” the suit states.
While Patel called The Atlantic’s report “a lie,” the American magazine told CNBC that “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.”
