Is the FBI probing a journalist after report on Kash Patel’s 'erratic behavior and excessive drinking'?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly launched a criminal leak investigation tied to an April 17 article by The Atlantic alleging “erratic behavior and excessive drinking” by Kash Patel.

According to MS NOW, sources described the insider threat investigation as “highly unusual” because it was not triggered by the disclosure of classified information and instead focused on leaks to a reporter. The sources added that the agents involved are part of an insider threats unit based in Huntsville.

Leak investigations typically focus on government officials suspected of disclosing classified documents or state secrets. Journalists who receive and publish such information are generally treated as potential witnesses rather than the primary focus of an investigation.

In the April 17 article, journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick reported that the FBI director’s behavior was described as a “freak-out” by colleagues. She wrote that FBI personnel were alarmed by what they described as erratic behavior and heavy drinking by Patel.

Patel has denied the allegations and filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic and the journalist.

Fitzpatrick reported that Patel would drink to the point of intoxication and that, on occasion, his security detail had difficulty waking him in the morning. She also wrote that Patel gives away customized liquor bottles.

“I heard from people in Patel’s orbit and people he has met at public functions, who told me that it is not unusual for him to travel with a supply of personalized branded bourbon,” she wrote in the latest article.

“The bottles bear the imprint of the Kentucky distillery Woodford Reserve, and are engraved with the words ‘Kash Patel FBI Director,’ as well as a rendering of an FBI shield, " she said.

According to Fitzpatrick, Patel has given bottles of his personalized whiskey to FBI staff as well as civilians he encounters in the course of his duties. She cited eight people, including current and former FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) employees.

The reported FBI investigation could allow agents to access phone records, run Fitzpatrick’s name and information through FBI databases, and examine her social media contacts.

The reported probe has alarmed some FBI agents, particularly because sources were initially granted anonymity to speak openly about Patel.

“They know they are not supposed to do this,” one source said. “But if they don’t go forward, they could lose their jobs. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied the investigation to MS NOW, saying, “This is completely false. No such investigation like this exists, and the reporter you mention is not under investigation at all.

“Every time there’s a publication of false claims by anonymous sources that gets called out, the media plays the victim via investigations that do not exist,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said that the investigation, if true, “would be an outrageous, illegal, and dangerous attack on the free press and the First Amendment.”

“We will defend Sarah and all of our reporters who are subjected to government harassment simply for pursuing the truth,” Goldberg told MS NOW.