Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel is facing mounting scrutiny after reports emerged that the FBI opened a criminal leak investigation tied to an article by Sarah Fitzpatrick alleging that Patel's drinking habits interfered with his ability to lead the bureau. The reported inquiry, first detailed by MS NOW, has triggered alarm among press freedom advocates and legal experts, who say the move would mark an extraordinary escalation in the government's treatment of journalists covering senior law enforcement officials.
At the center of the dispute is a 17 April article published by The Atlantic under the headline "The FBI Director Is MIA." The report cited more than two dozen anonymous sources, including current and former FBI officials, Justice Department employees and political operatives, who described what they claimed was a pattern of alcohol-related absences and operational disruptions involving Patel.
According to the article, some FBI meetings and intelligence briefings were allegedly pushed later into the day after nights of heavy drinking. The report also claimed that members of Patel's security detail struggled at times to reach him behind locked hotel doors, with one incident allegedly prompting discussion of using "breaching equipment" normally associated with tactical teams.
Fitzpatrick's reporting named two locations where Patel was allegedly seen drinking heavily: Ned's Club in Washington and the Poodle Room at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas hotel. After publication, The Atlantic reportedly added photographs of bourbon bottles carrying Patel's name that were allegedly distributed as gifts. Patel rejected the allegations before publication, telling the magazine: "Print it, all false, I'll see you in court. Bring your checkbook."
Patel later expanded his response through a £188 million ($250 million) defamation lawsuit against both Fitzpatrick and the publication. His office separately stated: "I have never been intoxicated on the job." In comments made after the lawsuit was filed, Fitzpatrick said additional sources had continued contacting her. Speaking on Radio Atlantic, she stated: "This was an open secret in Washington."
The controversy deepened after MS NOW reported on 6 May that the FBI had allegedly launched an "insider threat" investigation aimed at identifying the sources behind Fitzpatrick's reporting. According to the report, agents based in Huntsville, Alabama - home to an FBI insider threats unit - were involved in the inquiry.
The reported investigation has drawn particular concern because the Atlantic story did not involve classified information. Former federal officials and First Amendment advocates told MS NOW that leak investigations traditionally center on national security disclosures governed by the Espionage Act, not reporting based on workplace allegations and anonymous sourcing.
One source cited by MS NOW described unease within the bureau itself, saying: "They know they are not supposed to do this." The source added: "But if they don't go forward, they could lose their jobs. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't."
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson denied the existence of any such investigation. "This is completely false. No such investigation like this exists. The reporter you mention is not being investigated at all," he said. Williamson added: "Every time there's a publication of false claims by anonymous sources that gets called out, the media plays the victim by investigations that do not exist."
The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg responded sharply to the reports, saying: "If confirmed to be true, an FBI criminal leak investigation targeting our reporter would represent an outrageous attack on the free press and the First Amendment itself." Goldberg added: "We will defend The Atlantic and its staff vigorously; we will not be intimidated by illegitimate investigations or other acts of politically motivated retaliation."
The reported inquiry also arrives amid broader scrutiny of the FBI's treatment of journalists under Patel's leadership. Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that FBI agents accessed internal databases related to reporter Elizabeth Williamson after she published an article examining Patel's use of FBI personnel assigned to protect his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins.
In another case, FBI agents searched the home of Hannah Natanson as part of a separate leak investigation involving classified information. Although Natanson was not personally accused of wrongdoing, press freedom organizations pointed to the case as part of a widening pattern of aggressive tactics involving journalists.
Reporters Without Borders criticized the bureau's handling of the Williamson matter. Clayton Weimers, the organization's North America director, said: "In the same week that Kash Patel filed a flimsy lawsuit against The Atlantic for a story he didn't like, we also learned that his FBI desperately combed through its databases to find dirt on a New York Times journalist whose reporting embarrassed him."
The White House has continued defending Patel publicly. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described him as "a critical player on the Administration's law and order team," while acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told The Atlantic that Patel "has accomplished more in 14 months than the previous administration did in four years."
