FBI Director Kash Patel, last seen by much of the public partying with the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team after they won the gold in February, has struggled badly for much of his tenure. But The Atlantic cast Patel’s troubles in a new light with a brutal new report on Friday, alleging that FBI personnel have expressed concerns about the director’s unexplained absences and excessive drinking, which have alarmed colleagues and his security detail.....

Patel and his lawyer wasted little time in condemning the reporting as “false” and vowing to file a lawsuit against the publication and the award-winning reporter who wrote the story, Sarah Fitzpatrick.

On Monday morning, he did exactly that, filing a $250 million defamation lawsuit.....

When host Maria Bartiromo asked, for example, for his response to allegations that he has a drinking problem, Patel didn’t answer directly, though his response heralded “President Trump’s brilliant leadership.”

BARTIROMO: The Atlantic alleges you have a drinking problem. What's your response?

KASH PATEL: The results speak for the themselves. If the fake news mafia isn't hitting you personally w/baseless information, then you're not doing your job. This FBI under President Trump's brilliant leadership ...

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-04-19T14:34:21.506Z

As part of the same interview, the FBI director went on to claim that the bureau has “information” that bolsters Trump’s conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, adding, “We are going to be making arrests. And it’s coming, and I promise you, it’s coming soon.”

In reality, there is no evidence to support of the president’s discredited conspiracy theories — he lost in 2020, fair and square — as Patel likely knows. But if The Atlantic’s reporting is correct, and the director is “deeply concerned that his job is in jeopardy,” he also likely knows that there’s no better way to bolster his job security than going on Fox News and vowing to arrest the president’s perceived political enemies while defending Trump’s weird claims about his 2020 defeat.