FBI Director Kash Patel sat down for an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on her “Sunday Morning Futures” program where he stated that he was ready to file a lawsuit against The Atlantic for an article it published concerning his alleged performance during his time leading the federal law enforcement agency.
The Atlantic, a well-known leftist publication, put out an article claiming Patel was engaging in “bouts of excessive drinking” that reached a level concerning to Trump administration officials. Bartiromo asked Patel whether the claims made in the article were accurate, which led to him delivering a fiery response and announcing the lawsuit.
“Look, Maria, you and I have been at this together for a long time, whether I was leading the investigation on Russiagate back in the House or my time in the Trump Admin One and now, and the results, I say, speak for themselves,” Patel told the host. “If the fake news mafia isn’t hitting you personally with baseless information in Washington, D.C., then you’re not doing your job.”
“And it’s louder than ever because this FBI, under President Trump’s brilliant leadership in backing the blue and backing law enforcement, this FBI has the most prolific year in crime in the United States history, a 20% reduction in the homicide rate, a 20 point drop in opiate overdose deaths,” he continued, according to The Daily Caller.
“We have found and identified 6,300 child victims: 6,300 kids get to go home to their [parents], that’s a 30% increase. Seizing enough fentanyl to kill 180 million Americans, that’s a 31% increase,” Patel added. “Our deal with China, where we stop the flow of fentanyl precursors, our historic engagement thanks to President Trump in Busan, and our work continues.”
“We’ve captured eight of the top 10 most-wanted fugitives in the world, to include rapists, murderers, terrorists, and narco traffickers: that’s twice as many as Joe Biden did in four years,” the FBI director explained. Patel got dragged under the bus by individuals on both sides of the aisle for having a few beers with the U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team after they won the gold medal during the Winter Olympics in February.
“Maria, I’m happy to announce on your show that we’re not going to take this laying down. You want to attack my character? Come at me, bring it on, I’ll see you in court,” Patel went on to say, leading Bartiromo to ask, “So you’re going to sue them?” He replied, “Absolutely, it’s coming tomorrow.” He later said he was going to formally accuse The Atlantic of “defamation.”
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“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel,” Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, told the Daily Caller in response to Patel’s comments. An individual in the comment section noted that since The Atlantic doesn’t have any video or audio evidence available to corroborate their claims, they could end up in hot water. “Interesting, I suspect the Atlantic is screwed without video/audio evidence to substantiate their printed gossip,” the commenter wrote.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video