Stephen Colbert exposed a major flaw in Kash Patel’s denials of his alleged drinking problem.
On Wednesday night’s Late Show, Colbert clipped together footage of the 46-year-old FBI director lashing out at reporters following a bombshell exposé in The Atlantic that claimed he is prone to excessive drinking.
Patel was asked by a reporter at the Justice Department headquarters, “Can you say definitively that you have not been intoxicated or absent during your tenure as FBI director?”
Patel responded, “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.”
Colbert, 61, retorted, “Uh, that’s not a no.”
The FBI director filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against The Atlantic on Monday following the publication’s report about his alleged excessive drinking and erratic behavior.
Patel told reporters on Tuesday, “I’ve never been intoxicated on the job, and that is why we filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit. And any one of you that wants to participate, bring it on.”
Among many allegations made by over two dozen anonymous sources was a tale about Patel melting down over being unable to log in to his FBI computer, fearing that President Donald Trump had fired him.
NBC News correspondent Ryan Reilly asked Patel to explain the issue on Tuesday, saying, “Explain the computer login issue. Just explain the computer login issue. Your lawsuit contends that you were not able to log into the system. What did you think after you were unable to log into the system?”
Patel responded, “Let’s have a survey. How many of you people believe that’s true?”
Colbert raised his hand in response to the clip, prompting laughter from the crowd. He then showed Patel, clarifying, “I’ve answered your question. It’s simply as follows. I was never locked out of my systems. Anybody that says the opposite is saying.”
Colbert responded, “OK. So Kash says that anyone who says that Kash was locked out of Kash’s FBI computer is lying. But the reporter points out that in Kash’s own lawsuit, Kash says Kash was locked out of Kash’s FBI computer. So, Kash is lying that the reporter is lying about Kash, which means, hold on—he has to leave the grain with the fox before he can go get drunk with the chicken.”
The embattled FBI director’s lawsuit confirms that he had a “routine technical problem logging into a government system, which was quickly fixed.”
Patel has called The Atlantic article a “hit piece.” Patel addressed the publication in a statement last week, writing, “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”
The Atlantic has stood by its reporting and called Patel’s lawsuit “meritless.”
