Kash Patel’s tenure as head of the FBI has been marked by excessive drinking, erratic behavior, and unexplained absences, more than two dozen people familiar with his conduct say.
Patel’s actions, according to a bombshell report in The Atlantic, have often concerned other officials at the bureau and the Justice Department. His behavior has deteriorated to the point that some officials describe him as a national security risk.
Patel’s alleged boozing, FBI and DOJ officials told the outlet, has been concerning. Multiple times in the past year, his security detail had reportedly had trouble waking him up because he seemed to be drunk, according to information given to DOJ and White House officials.
Last year, there was even a request for “breaching equipment”—specialized tools used by SWAT teams, law enforcement, and the military to break through fortified rooms and structures—because Patel’s security detail couldn’t reach him behind locked doors.
In the early months of Patel’s stint, meetings and briefings reportedly had to be moved back because he had been drinking the night before, according to six current and former officials and others who know his schedule.
The 46-year-old FBI director, who drew headlines in February for chugging beer in the locker room of the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team after their gold medal win in Milan, often gets drunk at Ned’s, a private club in Washington, D.C., while around White House and other Trump administration staff. He also gets drunk at Las Vegas’ Poodle Room, where he often spends time on the weekends, the report goes on.
Some at the FBI are concerned about what could happen if Patel is needed but is in a compromised state of mind. Those concerns intensified once President Donald Trump decided to launch a war against Iran.
“That’s what keeps me up at night,” one official told The Atlantic.
Furthermore, FBI officials and some in the Trump administration have wondered whether some of Patel’s missteps—like sharing incorrect information about the investigation into the killing of Charlie Kirk—were alcohol-related, the report says.
The DOJ’s ethics handbook states clearly that employees are “prohibited from habitually using alcohol or other intoxicants to excess.”
The Atlantic report cited interviews with more than 24 people, all of whom remained anonymous. Besides the current and former FBI officials, they include staffers and law enforcement and intelligence agencies, members of Congress, former advisers, political operatives, lobbyists, and even workers in the hospitality industry.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement to the Daily Beast, said that “crime across the country has plummeted to the lowest level in more than 100 years and many high-profile criminals have been put behind bars” under Trump and Patel. Patel, she added, “remains a critical player on the Administration’s law and order team.”
The Daily Beast has also contacted the FBI and the DOJ for comment.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told the outlet: “Patel has accomplished more in 14 months than the previous administration did in four years. Anonymously sourced hit pieces do not constitute journalism.”
An FBI spokesperson provided a statement from Patel denying the allegations: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”
Patel later reiterated the threat on X, where he posted a message directed at The Atlantic’s editorial team, which read: “See you and your entire entourage of false reporting in court... But do keep at it with the fake news, actual malice standard is now what some would call a legal lay up.”
