FBI Director Kash Patel filed a lawsuit against The Atlantic on Monday, describing the outlet’s article on his tenure at the agency as “a sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece” in court documents.
The Atlantic published an article Friday detailing alleged “alarm” among Patel’s colleagues over his drinking, and reporting that the FBI Director is concerned that his job is “in jeopardy.” Patel denies the reporting and has filed suit seeking $250 million in damages. The lawsuit names both the publication and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick, accusing them of publishing “false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office.”
“Fitzpatrick could not get a single person to go on the record in defense of these outrageous allegations, instead relying entirely on anonymous sources she knew to be both highly partisan with an ax to grind and also not in a position to know the facts,” reads the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
“Defendants published the Article with actual malice, despite being expressly warned, hours before publication, that the central allegations were categorically false; despite having abundant publicly available information contradicting those allegations; despite obvious and fatal defects in their own sourcing; despite The Atlantic’s well-documented, long-running editorial animus toward Director Patel,” it says.
The article maintains that Patel’s alleged drinking forced FBI personnel to reschedule briefings and meetings. The Atlantic also maintained that his security detail requested breaching equipment normally used by SWAT teams due to their inability to get to the FBI director when doors were locked.
“Prior to publication, the FBI expressly informed Defendants that each of these allegations was ‘totally false,’” the lawsuit argues. “The FBI further warned Defendants that these allegations echoed a similar fabrication previously aired by MSNBC’s Frank Figliuzzi on Morning Joe—anonymously sourced reporting that was later retracted by MSNBC and that is the subject of pending defamation litigation—yet Defendants published it anyway.”
Patel previously sued Figliuzzi, a former FBI official and analyst for the left-leaning cable network now known as MSNOW, in June 2025 over a May 2, 2025 comment Figliuzzi made during “Morning Joe” claiming Patel frequented nightclubs in Las Vegas.
The Atlantic issued a defiant statement on X Monday after Patel filed the lawsuit.
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,” the outlet’s PR team posted on Monday.
Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief expressed similar sentiments when reached for comment by the Daily Caller News Foundation about Patel’s appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel,” Goldberg said in a statement provided by a spokesperson.
The FBI declined to comment when reached for comment by the DCNF, while the Atlantic repeated the statement posted on X when reached for comment.
Patel, an avid hockey fan, came under partisan fire for celebrating with the U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team after they won the gold medal against Team Canada during the Winter Olympics in February. Patel, who was seen drinking a beer during the locker-room celebration, was in Italy for meetings with Italian law enforcement officials.
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