Trump still has confidence in FBI Director Kash Patel, White House says
Trump still has confidence in FBI Director Kash Patel, White House says
Zac Anderson, USA TODAYFri, April 24, 2026 at 7:48 PM UTC
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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump still has confidence in FBI Director Kash Patel, who has been under scrutiny in the wake of a report in The Atlantic magazine alleging he engaged in excessive drinking and his behavior could jeopardize national security.
Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic after the article's publication. Asked about the article during in an April 21 press conference, Patel said: "I never listen to the fake news mafia ... when they got louder it just means I'm doing my job."
"I've never been intoxicated on the job and that is why we filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit," Patel added.
1 / 0FBI Director Kash Patel in photosFBI Director Kash Patel testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Commitee in Washington, D.C., on Sept.16, 2025.
Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg told CNBC that the magazine stands behind its reporting.
"The president does still have confidence in the FBI director and in our law and order team to do what they've been doing so well over the course of the last year and a half," Leavitt told reporters at the White House on April 24 when asked about Trump's view of Patel. She pointed to declining crime rates during Patel's tenure.
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The Atlantic article cited interviews with more than two dozen anonymous sources who "described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability." The sources raised concerns about “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences." Early morning FBI meetings had to be rescheduled because of Patel's "alcohol-fueled nights" and "on multiple occasions in the past year, members of his security detail had difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated," according to the article.
FBI) Director Kash Patel speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington on April 21, 2026.
Patel's behavior "often alarmed officials at the FBI and the Department of Justice," The Atlantic reported.
After the article's publication, Democrats on the House Judiciary committee sent Patel a letter asking him to complete a screening test for alcohol use disorder and submit it to the committee.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump still supports FBI Director Kash Patel, White House says
Source: “AOL Breaking”
