FBI Director Kash Patel lashed out at reporters Tuesday as he vehemently denied a media report that he was drunk on the job, saying he’s not only never been intoxicated while working but he’s also put in more days than his predecessors.
“I can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia. And when they get louder, it just means I’m doing my job,” Mr. Patel said at a press conference at the Justice Department.
He was standing with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, his boss, who said he hadn’t even read the story in The Atlantic alleging the drunkenness, but said some of the reporting was clearly false since it claimed reports of Mr. Patel’s behavior had reached him.
Mr. Blanche said that wasn’t true.
“There are certain parts of the article that are blatantly false,” he said.
The issue was raised by reporters during a press conference called to announce charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Mr. Patel derided reporters for going off-topic, and challenged the reporting on him.
“Anyone that says the opposite is lying,” he said.
Mr. Patel has filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic over the article.
In the press conference Tuesday he said he’s taken half as many days off as his predecessors, and it shows in the results of lower crime and more captures of most-wanted fugitives.
The Atlantic has said it stands by its reporting and vowed to fight the lawsuit.
It reported that Mr. Patel drank to the point of obvious intoxication at high-end clubs in Washington and Las Vegas, that official meetings were rescheduled to accommodate alcohol-fueled nights, and that his security detail had struggled to wake him on multiple occasions.
The article said it relied on more than two dozen sources that asked not to be named as they dished on the director.
