FBI investigating leaks to journalist who wrote explosive article on Kash Patel: Sources

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Source: MS NOW

The FBI has launched a criminal leak investigation focusing on an Atlantic magazine journalist who wrote a deeply unflattering account last month of Director Kash Patel's work habits, two people familiar with the matter told MS NOW.

The sources said the so-called insider threat investigation is highly unusual because it did not stem from a disclosure of classified information and because it is focused on leaks to a reporter. The agents involved are part of an insider threats unit based in Huntsville, Alabama, the sources added.

Typically, leak investigations look into government officials who may have disclosed state secrets or classified documents. Journalists who receive and publish such information have typically only been involved as potential witnesses.

The journalist, Sarah Fitzpatrick, cited two dozen anonymous sources in a detailed story reporting that Patel's alcohol consumption and erratic behavior had caused deep concern among FBI officials. Patel was known to drink to the point of intoxication, she reported, adding that on occasion his security detail had trouble waking him in the morning.....

The FBI also launched an internal inquiry after former NBC News contributor Frank Figliuzzi made comments about Patel's alleged socializing and work habits last year on "Morning Joe," two sources familiar with the matter told MS NOW. Patel's lawsuit against Figliuzzi has been thrown out by a judge who ruled his comments amounted to hyperbole.



Read more: https://www.ms.now/news/fbi-investigating-leaks-to-journalist-who-wrote-explosive-article-on-kash-patel-sources

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MS NOW EXCLUSIVE:  FBI investigating leaks to journalist who wrote explosive article on Kash Patel: Sources

— MS NOW (@ms.now) 2026-05-06T14:08:26.538Z

[bucolic_frolic]

1. WTF? I thought he was dry as a whistle

Now they're confirming facts were leaked??

[usonian]

2. How many bartenders are sources for the article?

Interview them all.

[tanyev]

3. So....it's accurate.

🤨

[erronis]

4. A side effect of too much alcohol can be called "boozey-eyed."

(No AI was harmed writing this bit of nonsense.)

[C Moon]

5. Reading DU today, it appears the FBI has turned into trump's Gestapo. nt

[chowder66]

6. Dear god, what a bunch of buffoons.

[Talitha]

7. Where were they during Russia, Russia, Russia?

Fuckin'
Brainless
Idiots

[The Roux Comes First]

8. To Me, "Wrote a Deeply Unflattering Account" is Just a Second Cuz to Sanewashing

Any honest reporting with even a modicum of factual basis would have to be at the least highly unflattering to this certifiable stooge.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Kash Patel's Personalized Bourbon Stash (gift link)

The FBI director has been leaving an unusual calling card.

Link to tweet

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/05/kash-patel-fbi-bourbon/687066/?gift=7iIl9n2G7V_Mcgcizbr5eeJvcCruqoxpDctS4PLKNcc

One thing not for sale is liquor, because liquor is something Patel gives away for free.....

After my story appeared, I heard from people in Patel’s orbit and people he has met at public functions, who told me that it is not unusual for him to travel with a supply of personalized branded bourbon. The bottles bear the imprint of the Kentucky distillery Woodford Reserve, and are engraved with the words “Kash Patel FBI Director,” as well as a rendering of an FBI shield. Surrounding the shield is a band of text featuring Patel’s director title and his favored spelling of his first name: Ka$h. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9, presumably a reference to Patel’s place in the history of FBI directors. In some cases, the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel’s signature, with “#9” there as well. One such bottle popped up on an online auction site shortly after my story appeared, and The Atlantic later purchased it. (The person who sold it to us did not want to be named, but said that the bottle was a gift from Patel at an event in Las Vegas.)

Patel has given out bottles of his personalized whiskey to FBI staff as well as civilians he encounters in his duties, according to eight people, including current and former FBI and Department of Justice employees and others who are familiar with Patel’s distribution of the bottles. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.

Patel has distributed his self-branded bottles while on official business, including during at least one FBI event. He and his team have transported the whiskey using a DOJ plane, including when he went to Milan during the Olympics in February. One of the bottles was left behind in a locker room, according to a person who was there. (I reviewed a photograph of the bottle.) On the same trip, Patel was filmed drinking beer with the gold-medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team—behavior that officials have said did not sit well with the teetotaling president. Patel defended himself at the time, saying he was just celebrating with his “friends” on the hockey team. Patel’s use of DOJ aircraft to transport cases of alcohol has been the subject of discussion among FBI staff.

The FBI did not dispute that Patel gives out bottles of whiskey inscribed with his name, but in response to a detailed list of questions, a spokesperson portrayed the gifts as routine within the FBI and the broader government. He added that “the bottles in question are part of a tradition in the FBI that started well over a decade ago, long before Director Patel arrived. Senior Bureau officials have long exchanged commemorative items in formal gift settings consistent with ethics rules. Director Patel has followed all applicable ethical guidelines and pays for any personal gift himself.”.....

Patel’s enthusiasm for self-branded merchandise is also well documented. “He is known as being very merch forward,” one DOJ employee told me. Even before he was confirmed as FBI director, Patel sent out Ka$h-branded merch boxes that included hats, socks, and other items depicting the comic-book character the Punisher, one person who received such a box told me. As my colleague Elaina Plott Calabro reported in 2024, before Patel became FBI director, he previously sold “Justice for All” #J6PC tees in honor of those arrested for their actions on January 6, 2021. (That item is no longer available from the Kash Foundation, which was founded by Patel but is now, according to its website, “an independent nonprofit, not endorsed by, associated with, or influenced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, or any government agency.”)

Patel is pissed which may explain the FBI opening an investigation into Sarah Fitzpatrick

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. Statement from The Atlantic's editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg:

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. Betty Bowers made me smile

[LetMyPeopleVote]

12. MaddowBlog-Kash Patel's personally branded liquor bottles create new challenge for FBI director

The beleaguered director didn’t need another alcohol-related controversy. He has one anyway.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/kash-patel-bourbon-bottles-fbi-atlantic

Kash Patel’s tenure as FBI director has featured a lengthy stream of failures and controversies, but a brutal report in The Atlantic last month was among the lowest of the low points. The report, relying on more than two dozen sources, alleged that FBI personnel have expressed concerns about the director’s unexplained absences and excessive drinking, which have reportedly alarmed colleagues and potentially created a security risk.....

It’s against this backdrop that The Atlantic published Fitzpatrick’s latest report on Patel on Wednesday afternoon, which created a new headache for the bureau’s beleaguered director:

President Trump’s FBI director has a great deal of affection for swag. Merchandise for sale on a website he co-founded — still operating, nearly 15 months into his term — includes beanies ($35), T-shirts ($35), orange camo hoodies ($65), trucker caps ($25), “government gangsters” playing cards (on sale for $10), and a Fight With Kash Punisher scarf ($25).

One thing not for sale is liquor, because liquor is something Patel gives away for free.

While previous FBI directors have avoided branded merchandise, the incumbent has bottles of personalized branded bourbon, engraved with the words “Kash Patel FBI Director.” As The Atlantic’s report added, surrounding the image of an FBI shield “is a band of text featuring Patel’s director title and his favored spelling of his first name: Ka$h. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9, presumably a reference to Patel’s place in the history of FBI directors. In some cases, the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel’s signature, with ‘#9’ there as well.”

This is not just some keepsake for the director to put on a shelf. On the contrary, the report (which MS NOW has not independently verified) noted that Patel has handed out the bottles to FBI staff and civilians, and it is “not unusual for him to travel with a supply of personalized branded bourbon,” domestically and internationally.

The article added that the FBI has traditionally had “a zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized use of alcohol on the job and for its misuse while off duty,” but under Patel, that standard is apparently “bending.”....

The Atlantic’s article, however, noted, “When I reached a former longtime senior FBI official to ask whether he’d ever seen personally branded liquor bottles distributed by a previous FBI director, he burst out laughing.”

Time will tell what, if any, impact this will have on Patel’s professional future, but it’s worth noting that Donald Trump is a longtime teetotaler, and it was nearly two weeks ago when Politico reported that things “aren’t looking great” for Patel, adding that he appeared likely to be the next high-ranking official to exit the administration. This dovetailed with related observations about just how little the White House has done to defend Patel, or even to say his name out loud, in the face of multiple controversies.