19 pages litigation FBI Director Kash Patel has filed a lawsuit against The Atlantic and its reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick, accusing them of claiming that he was not an alcoholic over an article about Patel’s drinking problem that allegedly brought the issue to the government’s attention. “It was never, and has never been, a matter of concern to the entire administration that Chief Patel was not intoxicated at these establishments or anywhere else,” a line in the lawsuit says, rebutting the article’s suggestion that Patel drank to the point of visibly intoxicated at Ned’s Bar in Washington, D.C., and the Poodle Room in Las Vegas, among other places. The lawsuit alleges that Patel was too drunk to be contacted, that all of his meetings were drinking charades, and that he was drunk when Charlie Kirk was killed, which are all false. But it did not deny an incident in The Atlantic’s report, which said Patel “freaked out” on April 10 and believed he was fired for being unable to log into the system. “On April 10, 2026, Director Patel experienced a routine technical issue while logging into a government system, which was quickly resolved. Director Patel’s sole focus was executing the government’s law enforcement priorities,” the lawsuit states, adding that any part of the story where Patel was “panicked” by the “dangers of his job” was false. The lawsuit says The Atlantic is free to criticize FBI leadership, but this particular report crossed a legal line and seeks $250 million in damages for damaging Patel’s reputation.“In reality, Fitzpatrick was unable to get anyone to publicly defend these outrageous accusations, and instead relied solely on anonymous sources whom she knew to be both highly partisan and uninformed of the facts,” the lawsuit states. The Atlantic said in a statement posted onThis is the second lawsuit Patel has filed against a media company, accusing him of drinking and partying. Last year, he sued MSNBC analyst and former FBI agent Frank Figliuzzi, accusing him of saying Patel spent more time at nightclubs than at FBI headquarters. The case is still pending.