FBI Director Kash Patel made good on his promise to sue The Atlantic for defamation on Monday, filing a $250 million lawsuit against the magazine and the reporter behind a story that alleged his excessive drinking and unexplained absences were raising alarms inside the bureau.
Filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, the 19-page complaint names The Atlantic and staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick as defendants, and says 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.”
“Defamatory speech is not free speech, and it is an honor to represent Kash Patel in this lawsuit seeking accountability for The Atlantic article’s malicious falsehoods,” Jesse R. Binnall, Mr. Patel’s attorney, said on X.
The Atlantic said it would fight the suit. “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,” a spokesman said.
Mr. Patel had telegraphed the lawsuit before the article was even published, telling the magazine in a quote it included in its own story: “I’ll see you in court — bring your checkbook.”
Appearing on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Mr. Patel framed the article as a hit piece by the “fake news mafia.” He argued that the FBI’s recent record — including a lower homicide rate and the capture of eight of the world’s top 10 most-wanted fugitives — speaks for itself.
“If the fake news mafia isn’t hitting you personally with baseless information in Washington, D.C., then you’re not doing your job,” Mr. Patel said. “If I’m not doing my job, if I’m not working, then how is it that the FBI delivered the safest America under President Trump’s leadership in the history of our country?”
He said the lawsuit was his answer. “We’re not going to take this lying down. You want to attack my character? Come at me. Bring it on.”
The Atlantic’s April 17 article, headlined “Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job,” reported that Mr. Patel drank to the point of obvious intoxication at high-end clubs in Washington and Las Vegas, that official meetings were rescheduled to accommodate alcohol-fueled nights, and that his security detail had struggled to wake him on multiple occasions.
Citing more than two dozen sources speaking on condition of anonymity, the report said current and former officials feared his conduct poses a national security vulnerability, particularly given the U.S. military campaign against Iran.
To prevail, Mr. Patel must show under the Supreme Court’s “actual malice” standard that The Atlantic knew the information it published was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth — a high bar for public figures in defamation cases.
The complaint says the magazine published the story despite being warned hours before publication that the central allegations were false, and that it “failed to take even the most basic investigative steps” that would have undercut its reporting.
Mr. Binnall said proceeding with publication despite that warning amounted to malice.
On Monday morning, the magazine continued promoting the story on social media, posting on X that more than two dozen people Ms. Fitzpatrick spoke with “described his management failures and conduct that could harm national security.”
This is not Mr. Patel’s first lawsuit over claims about his social life.
Last year, he sued Frank Figliuzzi after the analyst at MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, suggested on “Morning Joe” that Mr. Patel was “visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover Building.”
MS NOW later walked back the claim, calling the remark a “misstatement” that the network had not verified.
Mr. Figliuzzi has moved to dismiss the case. He said the Patel suit was “performative” and argued no reasonable viewer would have taken his comment as a statement of literal fact.
