Kash Patel is suing The Atlantic.
The 46-year-old FBI Director filed a defamation lawsuit against the publication and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick for a story originally called “Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job,” then changed to “The FBI Director Is MIA.”
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The article included colleagues allegedly expressing concerns about “episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”
The article included a statement from the FBI attributed to the Director, reading: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”
“The Atlantic‘s story is a lie. They were given the truth before they published, and they chose to print falsehoods anyway,” Kash said in a statement to Reuters.
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel,” Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg said in a statement to CNBC.
The lawsuit claims The Atlantic acted with “actual malice” and seeks $250 million in damages, according to Reuters, claiming that the publication ignored the FBI’s denial and didn’t respond to a letter from the FBI Director’s lawyer asking for time to refuse the allegations.
“Defendants’ conscious decision to ignore the detailed, specific, and substantive refutations in the Pre-Publication Letter, and their refusal to give a reasonable amount of time for the FBI and Director Patel to respond, is among the strongest possible evidence of actual malice,” the lawsuit reads, per Reuters.
Kash Patel recently spoke out about the viral video of him celebrating with the US Men’s Hockey Team after their gold medal win at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
