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  "path": "/politics/national/kash-patel-leak-investigation",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-08T14:38:47.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.advocate.com",
  "tags": [
    "Alcohol",
    "Donald trump",
    "Fbi",
    "Jeffrey goldberg",
    "Kash patel",
    "Media",
    "Sarah fitzpatrick",
    "Scandals",
    "The atlantic",
    "Donald Trump’s",
    "new report",
    "MS NOW",
    "reporters",
    "Kash Patel sued a reporter over drinking allegations. So she dropped another FBI alcohol bombshell",
    "How the Kash Patel hack turned a college-linked username into a security warning",
    "widely discussed investigation",
    "being sued by a gay former FBI employee",
    "new article",
    "Virginia",
    "Did the FBI just post this propaganda video to save Kash Patel’s job?",
    "The Atlantic calls Kash Patel’s $250 million defamation lawsuit ‘meritless’",
    "Alabama",
    "Democrats",
    "Maryland"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nThe walls appear to be closing in around President Donald Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel.\n\nA widening series of reports describing polygraph threats, leak investigations, paranoia over internal dissent, and escalating turmoil inside the FBI have painted a portrait of a director increasingly consumed by suspicion as damaging stories about his conduct continue spilling into public view.\n\nAccording to a new report from Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian at MS NOW, Patel ordered lie detector examinations for more than two dozen current and former members of his security detail and support staff as part of an aggressive effort to identify suspected leakers inside the bureau.\n\nThe report, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, said Patel has grown deeply distrustful of people around him, at times isolating himself from senior FBI leadership while fixating on who may be speaking to reporters.\n\nThe allegations come amid mounting controversy over Patel’s management of the bureau and reports of behavior that critics say has rattled morale inside one of the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agencies.\n\n**Related** : Kash Patel sued a reporter over drinking allegations. So she dropped another FBI alcohol bombshell\n\n**Related** : How the Kash Patel hack turned a college-linked username into a security warning\n\nIn April, journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick published a widely discussed investigation in __The Atlantic__ alleging Patel’s “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences” alarmed current and former FBI and Justice Department officials. The article cited more than two dozen sources who described a chaotic leadership atmosphere and growing concern over Patel’s conduct.\n\nAmong the most striking allegations was a revelation that members of Patel’s security detail allegedly struggled at one point to contact him behind locked doors strongly enough that agents discussed obtaining breaching equipment typically associated with tactical operations.\n\nPatel, who is being sued by a gay former FBI employee who alleges the director fired him over having a Pride flag at his desk during the prior administration, denied the allegations of excessive alcohol use and later filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against __The Atlantic__ and Fitzpatrick, accusing the publication of knowingly publishing falsehoods.\n\nBut the controversy has only deepened as the publication, which called the lawsuit \"meritless,\" continues to report.\n\nThis week, a new article by __The Atlantic’s__ Fitzpatrick revealed that Patel allegedly distributed personalized bourbon bottles engraved with “Ka$h Patel FBI Director” alongside official FBI insignia at bureau events and on official travel.\n\nSeveral current and former officials described the practice as deeply unusual within a bureau long associated with rigid professionalism and strict internal culture around alcohol use.\n\nOne episode reportedly became symbolic of the growing dysfunction. After a bottle allegedly disappeared during an FBI leadership seminar at Quantico, the FBI Academy’s campus in Virginia, Patel reportedly threatened personnel with polygraph examinations to determine who took it.\n\n**Related** : Did the FBI just post this propaganda video to save Kash Patel’s job?\n\n**Related** : The Atlantic calls Kash Patel’s $250 million defamation lawsuit ‘meritless’\n\nThe atmosphere inside the bureau reportedly grew even more tense after MS NOW separately reported that the FBI launched what sources described as an “insider threat” investigation focused on leaks to Fitzpatrick following her Atlantic story. According to the report, agents from an insider threats unit in Huntsville, Alabama, were tasked with examining leaks related to the article.\n\nThe FBI has defended Patel repeatedly in recent days. Bureau spokesperson Ben Williamson denied reports that the FBI launched a criminal leak probe tied to Fitzpatrick’s reporting and said commemorative alcohol gifts were consistent with longstanding bureau traditions.\n\nStill, the broader picture emerging from multiple reports has intensified concerns among lawmakers, former federal officials, and press freedom advocates.\n\nHouse Democrats led by Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin recently called for Patel to undergo alcohol abuse screening after the __Atlantic__ report.\n\nMedia advocates have warned that any effort to aggressively target sources or reporters for embarrassing internal stories, particularly in the absence of allegations involving classified information, constitutes a dangerous escalation of hostility toward the press.\n\n__The Atlantic’s__ editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, responding to reports of leak investigations tied to Fitzpatrick’s reporting, described the possibility as “an outrageous attack on the free press and the First Amendment.”",
  "title": "Kash Patel reportedly gripped by panic and leak paranoia at FBI"
}