Kash Patel’s colleagues are alarmed by what they describe as erratic behavior and excessive drinking—conduct that could cost him his job, Sarah Fitzpatrick reports.
She spoke with more than two dozen people who described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability. “They said the problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” Fitzpatrick writes. “His behavior has often alarmed officials at the FBI and Department of Justice, even as he won support from the White House for his eager participation in Trump’s effort to turn federal law enforcement against the president’s perceived political enemies.”
Several officials said that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government. They said he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights, six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel’s schedule said.
On multiple occasions in the past year, members of his security detail had difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated, according to information supplied to Justice Department and White House officials. A request for “breaching equipment”—normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings—was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors, according to multiple people familiar with the request.
The FBI responded with a statement, attributed to Patel: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court – bring your checkbook.”
“Some of Patel’s colleagues at the FBI worry that his personal behavior has become a threat to public safety,” Fitzpatrick continues. “Current and former officials told me that they have long worried about what would happen in the event of a domestic terrorist attack while Patel is in office, and they said that their apprehension has increased significantly in the weeks since Trump launched his military campaign against Iran. ‘That’s what keeps me up at night,’ one official told me.”
EDIT: For everyone saying he’s in Valhalla, how the fuck could he be there if *WE DID NOT WITNESS HIM!?* YOU CANNOT BE AWAITED UNLESS *WITNESSED!*
BrilliantForeign8899 on
Everyone knew and put him there anyway
TonyStrayVideo on
> A request for “breaching equipment”—normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings—was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors, according to multiple people familiar with the request.
CHEVIEWER1 on
Trash Patel is still hung over from all those various sports locker rooms he was seen binge drinking in
1. He didn’t really want the *job* of FBI Director, but was psyched to gain the title and be a part of his hero’s administration.
2. He actually was excited to get the job, but having it has made him realize how out of his depth he is, and he’s had the self realization of how unqualified he is after being around so many smart, capable, dedicated FBI agents. He’s miserable and he’s looking for any excuse he can to shirk his responsibilities.
inxile7 on
Maybe he sees the writing on the wall. Doesn’t want to be the last one holding the most egregiously odorous bag of excrement in the history of shit or bags.
barryvm on
Don’t be silly. He’s only there because he told Trump he’ll follow orders like an obedient little henchman, so there are only two ways he’s going to lose his job. One is that Trump thinks he’s “betrayed” him. The second one is that Trump needs someone to blame and sacks him to safeguard his fragile ego. Both possibilities are increasingly likely as Trump’s government goes down in flames.
I would probably drink too, if I was in his position. There are very few good endings for fascism’s upper management. If their boss doesn’t go after them for perceived disloyalty or because he needs a scapegoat, their victims will get them after this thing is voted out or overthrown.
Vegetable_Ad5957 on
This is what he and Kegsbreath have been doing? Spending taxpayer dollars to live out their fantasies. It’s not news
fxkatt on
The Epstein Files, Charlie Kirk assassination… just for starters…no wonder he stays drunk. See no evil.
WontThinkStraight on
>“They said the problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” Fitzpatrick writes.
Has anyone checked at a Waffle House? Maybe he’s been teleported there too.
Jerk182 on
Trump’s whole administration is nothing but pedophiles, alcoholics, heroin addicts, prostitutes and murderers. We are in dire need of decency.
keninsd on
“The FBI Director Is MIA” Aren’t we all better off for it? How can we keep him away for a very, very long time?
Bzr21 on
Trump loves firing women – and as much as Bondi & Noem had it coming – Hegseth & Patel deserve it just as much – if not more – but they’re men so they’d have to mess up 10 times worse to be fired by Trump.
M23707 on
Coachella recovery
clowns_will_eat_me on
Is anyone actually *missing* him, though?
thegoodnamesrgone123 on
I’ve known several people who have worked at the DOJ. They are all such serious and stright laced people. They care so much about what they do. This fucking idiot Clown in charge is so insulting
9-1-Holyshit on
Typical DUI hire
Embarrassed-Town-293 on
This has done wonders for my impostor syndrome
nvmenotfound on
smh 🤦♂️ when you actually get a glimpse into behind the scenes it’s always so much worse for republicans than you assumed which is wild bc everyone already assumes kash is an idiot who abuses power and is a security risk.
crewsctrl on
> He quickly became convinced that he had been locked out, and he panicked, frantically calling aides and allies to announce that he had been fired by the White House, according to nine people familiar with his outreach. Two of these people described his behavior as a “freak-out.”
I’m glad Trump’s lackeys live in constant fear of being pushed out. This is good to know.
AAron27265 on
Did hegseth strike down upon him with great vengeance and furious anger?
acostane on
The sad part is that I cannot convince anyone around me to pay attention to any of this. I can share these stories and advocate publicly and have a billion in person conversations… people are so overwhelmed with the bullshit that they can no longer process anything else.
This is LEGITIMATELY dangerous. Am I the biggest fan of the FBI? NOPE. but I know it needs to be somewhat functional! And right now we’re just lucky nothing awful has happened.
Almost no one at any level of our government right now is fit to lead. I cannot properly convey how fucked we are. Not just our physical security… but overall, our ability to live a life where our unalienable rights are acknowledged by government. Our children may not know a time when they’re free to speak their minds about government.
I worry about posting to reddit and Facebook on anything that could get Patel to label me a domestic terrorist. He wants to. I should not have to worry.
And it’s only getting worse and people cannot keep up. So these complete assholes are just running us over.
And it’s democrats too, GODDAMN it. I hate to say it. Been a Dem for almost 20 years after starting out life as a right winger. But they’re so weak. They don’t listen to us either. We need STRUCTURAL change to dig ourselves out of this or we. will. lose. everything.
AI surveillance, drone technology that can track individuals, Palantir, the government purchasing private tracking data, flock, facial recognition, single databases of all this info, warrantless arrests and investigations with no oversight led by ideologues instead of people who care about the rules…. it’s all here, right now. And I’m just pulling the horrors off the top of my mind. We are fucked if we don’t force whatever opposition we have left to fight these people.
I have a little girl. I don’t want her to grow up like this.
24 Comments
Kash Patel’s colleagues are alarmed by what they describe as erratic behavior and excessive drinking—conduct that could cost him his job, Sarah Fitzpatrick reports.
She spoke with more than two dozen people who described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability. “They said the problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” Fitzpatrick writes. “His behavior has often alarmed officials at the FBI and Department of Justice, even as he won support from the White House for his eager participation in Trump’s effort to turn federal law enforcement against the president’s perceived political enemies.”
Several officials said that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government. They said he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights, six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel’s schedule said.
On multiple occasions in the past year, members of his security detail had difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated, according to information supplied to Justice Department and White House officials. A request for “breaching equipment”—normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings—was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors, according to multiple people familiar with the request.
The FBI responded with a statement, attributed to Patel: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court – bring your checkbook.”
“Some of Patel’s colleagues at the FBI worry that his personal behavior has become a threat to public safety,” Fitzpatrick continues. “Current and former officials told me that they have long worried about what would happen in the event of a domestic terrorist attack while Patel is in office, and they said that their apprehension has increased significantly in the weeks since Trump launched his military campaign against Iran. ‘That’s what keeps me up at night,’ one official told me.”
Read more: [https://theatln.tc/YWgFALdd](https://theatln.tc/YWgFALdd)
Maybe he’s walking the Appalachian trail.
EDIT: For everyone saying he’s in Valhalla, how the fuck could he be there if *WE DID NOT WITNESS HIM!?* YOU CANNOT BE AWAITED UNLESS *WITNESSED!*
Everyone knew and put him there anyway
> A request for “breaching equipment”—normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings—was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors, according to multiple people familiar with the request.
Trash Patel is still hung over from all those various sports locker rooms he was seen binge drinking in
Gift link https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/04/kash-patel-fbi-director-drinking-absences/686839/?gift=1ga2TvL-DbuHDQIcYF7oRxNmK3jnX3wl-J-XKJbu_nU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
It’s either…
1. He didn’t really want the *job* of FBI Director, but was psyched to gain the title and be a part of his hero’s administration.
2. He actually was excited to get the job, but having it has made him realize how out of his depth he is, and he’s had the self realization of how unqualified he is after being around so many smart, capable, dedicated FBI agents. He’s miserable and he’s looking for any excuse he can to shirk his responsibilities.
Maybe he sees the writing on the wall. Doesn’t want to be the last one holding the most egregiously odorous bag of excrement in the history of shit or bags.
Don’t be silly. He’s only there because he told Trump he’ll follow orders like an obedient little henchman, so there are only two ways he’s going to lose his job. One is that Trump thinks he’s “betrayed” him. The second one is that Trump needs someone to blame and sacks him to safeguard his fragile ego. Both possibilities are increasingly likely as Trump’s government goes down in flames.
I would probably drink too, if I was in his position. There are very few good endings for fascism’s upper management. If their boss doesn’t go after them for perceived disloyalty or because he needs a scapegoat, their victims will get them after this thing is voted out or overthrown.
This is what he and Kegsbreath have been doing? Spending taxpayer dollars to live out their fantasies. It’s not news
The Epstein Files, Charlie Kirk assassination… just for starters…no wonder he stays drunk. See no evil.
>“They said the problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” Fitzpatrick writes.
Has anyone checked at a Waffle House? Maybe he’s been teleported there too.
Trump’s whole administration is nothing but pedophiles, alcoholics, heroin addicts, prostitutes and murderers. We are in dire need of decency.
“The FBI Director Is MIA” Aren’t we all better off for it? How can we keep him away for a very, very long time?
Trump loves firing women – and as much as Bondi & Noem had it coming – Hegseth & Patel deserve it just as much – if not more – but they’re men so they’d have to mess up 10 times worse to be fired by Trump.
Coachella recovery
Is anyone actually *missing* him, though?
I’ve known several people who have worked at the DOJ. They are all such serious and stright laced people. They care so much about what they do. This fucking idiot Clown in charge is so insulting
Typical DUI hire
This has done wonders for my impostor syndrome
smh 🤦♂️ when you actually get a glimpse into behind the scenes it’s always so much worse for republicans than you assumed which is wild bc everyone already assumes kash is an idiot who abuses power and is a security risk.
> He quickly became convinced that he had been locked out, and he panicked, frantically calling aides and allies to announce that he had been fired by the White House, according to nine people familiar with his outreach. Two of these people described his behavior as a “freak-out.”
I’m glad Trump’s lackeys live in constant fear of being pushed out. This is good to know.
Did hegseth strike down upon him with great vengeance and furious anger?
The sad part is that I cannot convince anyone around me to pay attention to any of this. I can share these stories and advocate publicly and have a billion in person conversations… people are so overwhelmed with the bullshit that they can no longer process anything else.
This is LEGITIMATELY dangerous. Am I the biggest fan of the FBI? NOPE. but I know it needs to be somewhat functional! And right now we’re just lucky nothing awful has happened.
Almost no one at any level of our government right now is fit to lead. I cannot properly convey how fucked we are. Not just our physical security… but overall, our ability to live a life where our unalienable rights are acknowledged by government. Our children may not know a time when they’re free to speak their minds about government.
I worry about posting to reddit and Facebook on anything that could get Patel to label me a domestic terrorist. He wants to. I should not have to worry.
And it’s only getting worse and people cannot keep up. So these complete assholes are just running us over.
And it’s democrats too, GODDAMN it. I hate to say it. Been a Dem for almost 20 years after starting out life as a right winger. But they’re so weak. They don’t listen to us either. We need STRUCTURAL change to dig ourselves out of this or we. will. lose. everything.
AI surveillance, drone technology that can track individuals, Palantir, the government purchasing private tracking data, flock, facial recognition, single databases of all this info, warrantless arrests and investigations with no oversight led by ideologues instead of people who care about the rules…. it’s all here, right now. And I’m just pulling the horrors off the top of my mind. We are fucked if we don’t force whatever opposition we have left to fight these people.
I have a little girl. I don’t want her to grow up like this.
Anyways. Rambling into the void