FBI Director Kash Patel told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo he was prepared to sue The Atlantic over an article the outlet published about his alleged performance while leading the federal law enforcement agency.
The Atlantic published an article Friday in which Patel was described as having “bouts of excessive drinking” that concerned Trump administration officials. Bartiromo questioned Patel about the article’s veracity, which prompted him to push back hard.
“Look, Maria, you and I have been at this together for a long time, whether I was leading the investigation on Russiagate back in the House or my time in the Trump Admin One and now, and the results, I say, speak for themselves,” Patel responded. “If the fake news mafia isn’t hitting you personally with baseless information in Washington, D.C., then you’re not doing your job, and it’s louder than ever because this FBI, under President Trump’s brilliant leadership in backing the blue and backing law enforcement, this FBI has the most prolific year in crime in the United States’s history, a 20% reduction in the homicide rate, a 20 point drop in opiate overdose deaths.”
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“We have found and identified 6,300 child victims: 6,300 kids get to go home to their [parents], that’s a 30% increase. Seizing enough fentanyl to kill 180 million Americans, that’s a 31% increase,” Patel continued. “Our deal with China, where we stop the flow of fentanyl precursors, our historic engagement thanks to President Trump in Busan, and our work continues. We’ve captured eight of the top 10 most-wanted fugitives in the world, to include rapists, murderers, terrorists, and narco traffickers: that’s twice as many as Joe Biden did in four years.”
Patel came under partisan fire for celebrating with the U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team after they won the gold medal during the Winter Olympics in February.
“Maria, I’m happy to announce on your show that we’re not going to take this laying down. You want to attack my character? Come at me, bring it on, I’ll see you in court,” Patel said, prompting Bartiromo to ask, “So you’re going to sue them?”
“Absolutely, it’s coming tomorrow,” Patel responded, later telling Bartiromo he would accuse The Atlantic of “defamation.”
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel,” Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief told the Daily Caller News Foundation when reached for comment.
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