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

One of the reasons you and a lot of others hadn't heard about the article before was because it was published 3 days ago. It was published on Friday. Kash went on TV to freak out about it over the weekend, And now there's a $250 million law suit on Monday. Kash is currently doing a meltdown speed run.

Not just terrified: a few weeks ago he arrived at the office hungover, was unable to login to his computer, and decided that meant he had been fired. He started calling all his friends telling them the news. Word got around. The press started asking the White House who was going to replace Patel. The White House says "huh?" The FBI sends an IT guy and to fix his login issues within a few minutes. Just a minor bug. No one fired. Oops.

Working for Trump must be incredibly difficult. He took the job so I don't have much sympathy but going to log in and find you can't - that's EXACTLY how I imagine Trump would fire people. Zero dignity, not a shred of professionalism

> I have to assume he believes the DOJ won't comply with the obvious subpoenas for FBI records that defense attorneys will obtain, right? Wouldn't that just drag this out for years (which might be the point) - but at some point there is going to be a DOJ which isn't in his favor (and TBH it could be in a few months when Trump tires of him).

everyone in the trump admin is always ready to sue until someone tells them what discovery is

It’s more about seeing how much they can throw their weight around to get people to obey them. It’s why trump keeps getting settlements for every civil case.

Anything to deflect from Epstein and their thefts.

Forgetting the part where they are all fighting for Trump's approval. A part of that is standing up to media outlets.

I think a good bit of it is just theater anyhow. Like, they know they can't win, but it doesnt matter because their base gets talking points of "liberal media smears God fearing federal agents and then liberal judges threw the case out. They are so corrupt!"

I mean in the claims, staff had to get breaching equipment in order to get to Patel who was allegedly hiding behind locked doors. There would be a record of that

There’s gonna be a lot of witnesses and although many FBI agents are loyal to Trump, many of them hate Kash

He looked absolutely ridiculous in that video haha so I can’t wait for them to show it- not that i think it will get that far. Isn’t he in his 40s?

Remember the Miracle on Ice? I'm asking rhetorically since you may not have been born by then. What a wonderful moment to remember in Olympic history, just the whole underdog appeal, cold war era politics, etc etc. That happened 46 years ago and I (and many others I'm sure) think very fondly of that team still. This USA team, great job fellas, happy they won the gold. But seems like their victory really was swept away quite quickly out of view. For me, the stain of Patel's foolish locker room antics (why the f*** does he need to be in there) and Trump's congratulatory phone call to them (dissing the women's team) soured this victory unfortunately.

the bar for defamation of public people is insanely high. They have to prove intent on top of not being true. He is not going to win this. It's all for show just like Trump's bullshit lawsuits. He gets a headline on conservative media and when he drops it they won't report it. The braindead followers will say it was all lies and assume the lawsuit was a success.

Come on, it’s just locker room behavior, no big deal!!! /s

Valhalla would never welcome those two cowards.

I'm sure the current supreme court would love to tear down *Sullivan vs NYT* though. The fourth estate has only been mostly dismantled, it still has some power, and that needs to be crushed.

But has he ever teleported to a Waffle House?

One meeellion No for reals other headlines say $250miion, lmfao. 🤣 these crocks in this admin are of their rockers. 

Guthrie's mom still hasn't been found btw

And traveled there on the company dime because it was supposedly for work.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Absolutely that is their goal. If the Atlantic has to prove their claims are correct they won't be able to keep the anonymous sources anonymous, otherwise any reporter anywhere could make a story and say they have anonymous source that provided them the information.

His girlfriend is handling Israelis too? Not surprised at all ^/s

>Laurene Powell Jobs So like Melinda Gates and MacKenzie Scott It always seems like it is up to the wives, exes, and widows of the billionaire oligarchy to save us from some of their worst excesses. The system sucks and should be torn down, but at least these woman keep it from being even worse.

This is about spin, not clearing his name, and he's got lawyers on staff, personal and professional, so why not file dubious cases?

Yes but The Atlantic is owned and operated by Laurene Jobs who is personally worth 14 billion. They're doing better than ever as a news organization and a few of their editors have been hyper critical of the media organizations who settle these suits. They're not gonna settle - and this lawsuit only further burnishes their credentials as a left of center publication. I get that Kash is most likely being goaded into suing by his MAGA controllers, but he must know that his career is in a death spiral and that this just confirms it.

The Atlantic should do a follow up, with even more details.