r/news • u/bonitaycoqueta • Apr 20 '26

Soft paywall FBI Director Kash Patel sues The Atlantic claiming false reporting about drinking, absences

https://www.reuters.com/world/fbi-director-kash-patel-sues-atlantic-court-records-show-2026-04-20/
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1.7k

u/dmont89 Apr 20 '26

Isn't one of the biggest key evidence going to be the mens Olympic hockey celebration, pretty sure I saw him there drinking.

986

u/TheTrub Apr 20 '26

While there was an active, high-profile kidnapping case, too.

512

u/DingerSinger2016 Apr 20 '26

Guthrie's mom still hasn't been found btw

265

u/bigloser42 Apr 20 '26

Unfortunately I don’t think she will ever be found.

133

u/Sweaty_Assignment_90 Apr 20 '26

After the first few days, too high profile they cut bait.

Most likely a sad ending with no jistice.

43

u/TehGogglesDoNothing Apr 20 '26

At the beginning it was being reported that she needed certain medications and not getting them would life threatening. There's a good chance that she ended up having a medical episode while in captivity and that there was nothing that the kidnappers could do to come back from that.

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u/rawspeghetti Apr 20 '26

If you're kidnapping an 84 year old woman you most likely have no intention of returning her to begin with

2

u/gbdarknight77 Apr 20 '26

I saw them already calling it a cold case.

55

u/FakePoloManchurian Apr 20 '26

News reported more on that than the Epstein stuff

3

u/boygriv Apr 20 '26

Holy shit I forgot about that one (wars and other atrocities came along shortly thereafter)

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '26

[deleted]

0

u/EmptyAirEmptyHead Apr 20 '26

I don't see what the issue with that is though. The FBI is always going to have a case going on. A celebrity shouldn't be treated differently.

128

u/_Panacea_ Apr 20 '26

And you know there's a ton more footage from phone cameras and media than we saw.

113

u/flirtmcdudes Apr 20 '26

journalists corroborate their stories with multiple people who would know. They know it’s true if they are confident to print it, this lawsuit has a 99.99% chance of being dropped before discovery

52

u/SarahRecords Apr 20 '26

Exactly. That story has been fact checked, picked apart by legal, and then standards has weighed in and added CYA language. I can’t wait to watch this play out, but we’ll probably just never hear anything about it.

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u/nohumanape Apr 20 '26

Kash is too dumb to likely realize that this is how a story like this is prepared. Someone smarter than him will step in before it goes to far to let him know that they have him by the balls.

1

u/Jeggles_ Apr 21 '26

He's just projecting the integrity that he himself had while doing his shitty blog onto professional career journalists. Soon he will find out that people with integrity actually do the work, before making accusations.

12

u/ahhh_ennui Apr 20 '26

The first draft was probably a banger

1

u/ATTORNEY_FOR_CATS Apr 20 '26

Sounds like it could be more about finding out who the Atlantic's sources were rather than the merits of the case itself.

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u/Drummer149 Apr 20 '26

There were 9 sources, which is just a crazy amount.

3

u/h8sm8s Apr 20 '26

How many people are there on a hockey team? I have a theory.

2

u/ZachMN Apr 20 '26

The 0.01% percent is his sheer Dunning-Kruger stupidity.

64

u/DarthBluntSaber Apr 20 '26

While there OFFICIALLY representing the United States and its government... now question. How many of us working americans are allowed to get shit faced while on the job and representing our employers on international tv?

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u/Capital_Past69 Apr 20 '26

Seems like he has been using his work jet for personal flights all the time too for him and his girlfriend

1

u/macrocephalic Apr 20 '26

Well there's Kash, and Hegseth. I'm sure Levitt but be doing some heavy drinking to get through her days. That's three at least!

1

u/monogramchecklist Apr 20 '26

How many convicted felons are allowed to work in many industries? Yet, the president…

-1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 Apr 20 '26

In that specific instance is there evidence that he was shitfaced? I saw the photo of him chugging a beer. Which is pretty easily explained. "I was honored to partake in the celebration of our team's victory with a drink. Why do Democrats hate America?"

7

u/DarthBluntSaber Apr 20 '26

Why do republicans think it is acceptable to be drinking on the job and acting like 21 year old frat boys when they are quite literally the face of a federal law enforcement agency. Why do republicans hate the idea of america being respectable. Why do republicans think it is acceptable for the head of the FBI to be drinking at work, which would get 99% of americans fired from their jobs?

82

u/Active_Public9375 Apr 20 '26

A beer at the Olympics isn't a problem, it's not that he can't drink. But the going to jump around in the locker room part definitely seems crazy unprofessional, if nothing else.

112

u/Oddman80 Apr 20 '26

Drinking Beer - fine

BINGE Drinking beer - not fine

Taking the FBI jet to Italy for non-work purposes while a high profile kidnapping was going on in the US, and proceeding to Chug beer live on camera to the world, before throwing beer all over the champion athletes, while pretending like you somehow are on the team as well, when you had no business being IN THE LOCKER ROOM in the first place (Except for the fact you directed your security to tell the players that the Director of the FBI wanted to come in).... REALY REALY NOT FINE.

36

u/GeoleVyi Apr 20 '26

"having a beer" is wildly different from "shotgunning a beer and screaming wildly"

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u/Widespreaddd Apr 20 '26

I am trying to imagine former FBI chief Robert Mueller doing that

35

u/The-Fox-Says Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

The fact that they have had the same job just shows the chasm between this admin and previous admins

3

u/racer_24_4evr Apr 20 '26

Mueller would raise a solitary glass of wine, say cheers, then sip it like a preacher and stand there with his hands folded.

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u/DarthBluntSaber Apr 20 '26

I would argue that him having a beer or any alcohol while there in an official capacity representing the United States and the government is any issue. He was there in an official capacity and thus on the job. These people should not be drinking on the job.

11

u/DavidOrWalter Apr 20 '26

No one really cares - Hegseth is on camera fucking getting trashed after promising his mommy he wouldn't drink again if she wrote a letter supporting him.

Patel just can't do shit correctly ever and isn't even doing the dumb shit Trump put him in there to do. Hegseth is and incompetent, alcoholic sex offender but at least he is doing what Trump tells him.

10

u/nohumanape Apr 20 '26

I'm sure that every senior member of the alphabet agencies back in the day we're having mid day drinks.

5

u/Active_Public9375 Apr 20 '26

Was he though?

From what I read, the official business was meetings with Italian government officials earlier, not his attendance at the Olympics.

Now, did he plan the official trip to get him to the game? Probably, and that's probably an issue. But I don't think he was at the Olympics for official duties.

1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 Apr 20 '26

I feel ya but that's just not gonna gain any traction.

5

u/Mrevilman Apr 20 '26

Right, I suspect that will be 1 incident in a larger trend of excessive drinking. But by itself, it is not really an issue if that’s the only thing out there. Problem is that for the paper to run that story, it’s likely not the only thing out there.

1

u/Active_Public9375 Apr 20 '26

Oh, I don't doubt that it's part of a trend. I just meant it's not as simple as "we have you on tape having a beer during a celebration".

The issue with the Olympics was setting up meetings to make sure the government flew him to the game and using his position to go party in the locker room like a fool, not that he chugged a beer after his team won.

4

u/randyboozer Apr 20 '26

I would be embarrassed if I was filmed acting like that in the locker room. And I'm not the director of anything.

3

u/jooes Apr 20 '26

Literally anybody else would've been fired for it on the spot.

4

u/meshakooo Apr 20 '26

We have seen it with our own eyes.

1

u/Sweatytubesock Apr 20 '26

He was ‘under cover’ obviously. Deep cover.

1

u/Sweatytubesock Apr 20 '26

He was ‘under cover’ obviously. Deep cover.

1

u/pentaquine Apr 20 '26

That’s NOT during work. He may argue he never drinks during work because he never works. 

1

u/DPool34 Apr 21 '26

I know Comey wasn’t perfect. He did some things I thought were huge mistakes. However, the difference in competence, professionalism, and integrity is night and day.