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Published On 20 Apr 2026<\/span>20 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n FBI Director \u2060Kash Patel has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic and its reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick, following the publication of an article on Friday alleging the director had a drinking problem that could pose a threat to United States national security.<\/p>\n The Atlantic said it stood by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the \u201cmeritless lawsuit\u201d that was filed on Monday.<\/p>\n The magazine\u2019s story, initially titled \u201cKash Patel\u2019s Erratic Behavior Could \u2060Cost Him His Job,\u201d cited more than two dozen anonymous sources expressing concern about Patel\u2019s \u201cconspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences\u201d that \u201calarmed officials at the FBI and the Department of Justice\u201d.<\/p>\n The article, which The Atlantic subsequently titled \u201cThe FBI Director Is MIA\u201d in its online version, reported that during Patel\u2019s tenure, the FBI had to reschedule \u2060early meetings \u201cas a result of his alcohol-fueled nights\u201d and that Patel \u201cis often away or unreachable, delaying time-sensitive decisions needed to advance investigations\u201d.<\/p>\n In The Atlantic\u2019s story, the White House, the Department of Justice and Patel denied the allegations. The article included a statement from the FBI attributed to Patel, \u201cPrint it, all false, I\u2019ll see you in court\u2014bring your checkbook.\u201d<\/p>\n Patel, in the lawsuit filed in the District Court in Washington, denied the allegations of his behaviour and criticised the magazine for relying on anonymous sources. Fitzpatrick wrote that she interviewed more than two dozen people and granted them anonymity to \u201cdiscuss sensitive information and private conversations\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cDefendants cannot evade responsibility for their malicious lies by hiding behind sham sources,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe stand \u200cby our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,\u201d the magazine said in a statement.<\/p>\n Reuters could not independently establish the accuracy of the article or why the publication changed the title.<\/p>\n Patel\u2019s complaint says that while The Atlantic is free to criticise the leadership of the FBI, \u201cthey crossed the legal line\u201d by publishing an article \u201creplete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel\u2019s reputation and drive him from office\u201d.<\/p>\n The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks $250m in damages.<\/p>\n The lawsuit alleges The Atlantic ignored the FBI\u2019s denials and did not respond to a Friday letter from Patel\u2019s lawyer Jesse Binnall to senior editors and the Atlantic\u2019s legal department \u2060asking for more time to refute the 19 allegations the reporter told the FBI\u2019s press office she would be \u2060publishing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is among the strongest possible evidence of actual malice,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Atlantic\u2019s story is a lie,\u201d Patel said in an interview with Reuters. \u201cThey were given the truth before they published, and they chose to print falsehoods anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter, which Reuters has seen, was sent shortly before 4pm (20:00 GMT) on Friday, and The Atlantic published the story at 6:20pm (22:20 GMT), according to the complaint. Reuters could not determine whether or how The Atlantic responded to Binnall\u2019s request.<\/p>\n The lawsuit alleges the publication acted with \u201cactual malice\u201d, a legal standard that requires public figures such as Patel to show the publisher knowingly printed \u2060false information or recklessly ignored doubts about its accuracy.<\/p>\n \u201cDefendants\u2019 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 \u2060respond, is among the strongest possible evidence of actual malice,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n Binnall is a prominent Republican \u2060attorney who has represented US President Donald Trump in numerous civil cases, including one brought by US Capitol Police officers over his role in riots in Washington, DC on January 6, 2020. Binnall has represented Trump\u2019s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as well as former national security adviser Mike Flynn, and ran Trump\u2019s challenge to Nevada\u2019s 2020 election results.<\/p>\n The lawsuit is the latest instance of a Trump administration figure suing a media outlet. A judge \u200cdismissed a lawsuit brought by Trump against CNN for describing election denialism as \u201cthe big lie\u201d. Judges have also dismissed Trump\u2019s lawsuits against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Trump has refiled his lawsuit against the New York Times and may refile against the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n He has also secured some settlements. ABC News agreed \u200cto settle \u200ca case for $15m plus $1m in legal fees. Paramount Global agreed to pay $16m to settle a dispute over what the Trump administration called \u201cdeceptive editing\u201d of a CBS News interview with his opponent in the 2024 election, Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 20 Apr 202620 Apr 2026 FBI Director \u2060Kash Patel has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic and its reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick, following the publication of an article on Friday alleging the director had a drinking problem that could pose a threat to United States national security. The Atlantic said it stood by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Acting with \u2018actual malice\u2019<\/h2>\n
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