Kash Patel Files $250 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against the Atlantic

Attorneys for the FBI director, Kash Patel, filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit on Monday against the Atlantic magazine and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick, contesting an explosive report claiming he may soon be fired over a drinking problem and an “erratic” performance that anonymous sources described as a “national security vulnerability.”“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,” Mr. Patel’s attorneys write in their lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday morning.In its April 19 report, “The FBI Director is MIA,” the Atlantic magazine, a publication that has never shied away from fierce criticism of President Trump and his Cabinet members, reported that Mr. Patel feared he had been fired earlier this month when he was unable to log into an internal FBI computer system.That same day, speculation that Mr. Patel had been fired was fueled by flight records showing the government-owned private plane that Mr. Patel regularly travels on had flown from Maryland to Harry Reid International Airport at Las Vegas, where the 45-year-old has a residence. Ms. Fitzpatrick interviewed more than two dozen unidentified sources for her article.An FBI spokesman, Ben Williamson, and Mr. Patel’s attorney, Jesse R. Binnall, both maintain that Ms. Fitzpatrick sent a request for comment “containing nineteen substantive claims” about the FBI director less than two hours before publication of the article on Friday afternoon. In their lawsuit, Mr. Patel’s attorneys accused the Atlantic of leaving a window of just 111 minutes for comment “precisely to manufacture a ‘no comment’ or a summary denial, insulate themselves from the substance of the FBI response, and publish before the truth could catch up with them.” An Atlantic magazine spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions from The New York Sun regarding Messrs. Williams and Binnall’s claims that the FBI had only a brief window to respond to Ms. Fitzpatrick’s questions, and whether or not that was the only time the Atlantic contacted the FBI prior to the article’s publication.“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,” the magazine said in a statement Monday.The lawsuit presents arguably the first substantial legal challenge for the Atlantic magazine’s lead investor and chair, Lauren Powell Jobs, whose wealth has funded a burgeoning mini-liberal media empire.The Atlantic also reported that Mr. Patel’s job security remains tenuous due to concerns over alleged heavy drinking at the Washington members-only Ned’s Club while in the presence of White House staff, and at the Poodle Room at Las Vegas, where he maintains a residence.“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,” Mr. Patel’s attorneys write in their lawsuit. They added that those allegations “echoed a similar fabrication previously aired by MSNBC’s Frank Figliuzzi” that the network would eventually walk back in an on-air retraction.Mr. Patel sued Mr. Figliuzzi, a former FBI official and MSNBC national security analyst, for claiming on “Morning Joe” that the FBI director has been “visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover Building.” That lawsuit is still pending.Citing “information supplied to Justice Department and White House officials,” the Atlantic reported that members of Mr. Patel’s security detail had “difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated.” Last year, members of Mr. Patel’s security detail requested “breaching equipment” to gain access to a locked room where the “unresponsive” FBI director was, the Atlantic reported. In their lawsuit, Mr. Patel’s attorneys maintain that “none of these events occurred.”Mr. Patel’s attorneys also took exception to the magazine’s decision not to include the “FBI’s extensive, contemporaneous, and publicly documented operational output under Director Patel,” which they list in the lawsuit in great detail. They note, for instance, “the disruption of more than 2,000 gangs and criminal enterprises (up 210%) and the successful disruption of 670 individuals from conducting terrorist attacks.”During an appearance on the MSNOW show “The Briefing with Jen Psaki,” Ms. Fitzpatrick defended her work.“I am a very careful, very diligent, award-winning investigative reporter with a history of award-winning work across multiple organizations,” she told a former Biden administration spokesperson and host, Jen Psaki. “You and I, in fact, have worked together previously. I stand by every word of this reporting. We have excellent attorneys.”The magazine reported that Mr. Patel had a “freak-out” over his computer access issues and was “frantically calling aides and allies to announce that he had been fired by the White House.”Several law enforcement sources tell the Sun that Mr. Patel’s “access issue” that day prompted an unidentified employee within the FBI to tell several reporters he had been fired. However, a member of the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs contacted the White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, who denied that Mr. Patel had been dismissed, several FBI sources tell the Sun. The technical error was corrected, and Mr. Patel was still the FBI director as of Monday.Mr. Patel’s drinking has been under scrutiny after videos circulated on social media showing him pounding a celebratory beer and singing Toby Keith songs with members of the United States hockey team just moments after they captured their first Olympic gold medal since 1980. Many FBI rank and file, current and retired, saw the video as a reflection of an unserious person who was disinterested in the day-to-day of the role, but head-over-heels in love with its perks. While Mr. Trump is “pleased” with Mr. Patel’s efforts to fire agents who worked on the Biden administration’s investigations of Mr. Trump — including Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Mar-A-Lago documents and January 6 cases — he has been irked by the director’s tendency to appear “unprepared for TV appearances,” the Atlantic reported. After footage of Mr. Patel’s locker room celebration at Milan circulated on social media, Mr. Trump reportedly called Mr. Patel to “convey his unhappiness.” FBI officials have also been concerned about Mr. Patel’s “rushed” decision to fire some veterans of the Mar-a-Lago probe who were, at the time of their firing, members of a counterintelligence squad that specialized in threats from countries that included Iran. The specifics of these firings were first reported by the Sun. In their lawsuit, Mr. Patel’s attorneys maintain that the FBI dismissed “only three affected individuals even tangentially working on Iran-related matters.”During an appearance on the FOX News show “Sunday Morning Futures,” Mr. Patel called the Atlantic magazine “the fake news mafia.”When asked by host Maria Bartiromo about the article’s claims that Mr. Patel had a drinking problem that was impacting his performance as FBI director, Mr. Patel responded by saying that the “results speak for themselves.”In the past, Mr. Patel has taken legal action against the media. Since 2019, Mr. Patel has sued Politico, CNN, and the New York Times — cases he either withdrew or had dismissed. Mr. Patel’s attorneys are seeking $250 million in compensatory and punitive damages “as well as disgorgement of all income Defendants have earned by virtue of their lies about Director Patel.”

Kash Patel Files $250 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against the Atlantic

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