The Atlantic calls Kash Patel’s $250 million defamation lawsuit ‘meritless’

FBI Director Kash Patel filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against The Atlantic and staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick, demanding $250 million over an article alleging he had alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences from the office.

The article, published Friday, drew on interviews with more than two dozen anonymous sources — current and former FBI officials, intelligence staff, political operatives, and others — who described Patel as “erratic” and his behavior as “a national-security vulnerability.” Among its most explosive claims was that Patel drank to the point of obvious intoxication at a private Washington club and at a Las Vegas lounge he frequented on weekends; that his security detail had difficulty waking him on multiple occasions because he was “seemingly intoxicated”; and that SWAT-style breaching equipment was once requested because he was unreachable behind locked doors.

Patel famously flew to Italy during the Winter Olympics in February and was seen in the locker room of the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team after their gold medal win. Patel was drinking and celebrating, as shown in videos circulating on social media.

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The article also described a dramatic April 10 episode in which Patel, struggling to log onto a government computer, became convinced he had been fired and frantically called aides to announce it. Nine sources told Fitzpatrick about the outreach; two called it a "freak-out." It turned out to be a technical error.

The Atlantic is not backing down from its coverage.

“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,” a company spokesperson told The Advocate in a statement.

Patel’s response before publication was combative. “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court — bring your checkbook,” he said.

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The lawsuit accuses The Atlantic of deliberately engineering a timeline designed to prevent a meaningful response, sending nineteen detailed allegations at 2:09 p.m. with a 4:00 p.m. deadline on the day of publication. The FBI’s assistant director reportedly called the piece "one of the most absurd things I've ever read. Completely false at a nearly 100% clip." Patel’s attorneys sent a detailed pre-publication letter demanding more time. The Atlantic ignored both and published anyway, the suit alleges.

The Atlantic changed the article’s headline over the weekend from "Kash Patel's Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job" to "The FBI Director Is MIA." Patel’s legal team called it a "stealth edit."

The case is in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.