Democrats are demanding that FBI Director Kash Patel prove he does not have a drinking problem. In a letter sent Tuesday, members of the House Judiciary Committee, led by Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, called on Patel to take the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, a standard questionnaire used to screen for harmful or hazardous alcohol use.
Allegations of Misconduct
The letter cites numerous accounts alleging that Patel consumes alcohol to the point of illness, directs profanity-laced outbursts at support staff, and passes out drunk behind locked doors. According to the letter, these episodes have made him so unreachable that agents had to fetch SWAT-level breaching equipment to wake him.
The allegations are based primarily on a story published last week in The Atlantic, which reported that two dozen unnamed sources inside and outside the FBI believe Patel’s conduct problems go beyond what was previously known, including conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences.
Patel's Response
Patel has denied the story and sued The Atlantic for $250 million in damages, claiming the magazine published false and fabricated allegations designed to destroy his reputation and drive him from office.
However, there is no denying a video of Patel aggressively chugging beer on camera with the American men’s ice hockey team after their gold medal victory at the Winter Olympics. Patel’s schedule from that trip, obtained by the New York Times, included significant downtime, private dinners, and some aperitivo at Italy’s interior ministry.
“These glimpses of your relationship to alcohol would be alarming to see in an FBI agent; for us to see them in the FBI Director himself is shocking and indicative of a public emergency,” the Democrats said.
Press Conference Denial
During a press conference at the Justice Department on Tuesday, Patel again denied drinking on the job and defended his partying at the Olympics. “I’m like an everyday American who loves his country, loves the sport of hockey and champions my friends when they raise a gold medal and invite me in to celebrate,” Patel said.
The focus on Patel’s alleged drinking comes as three other Senate-confirmed Trump appointees have resigned or been fired in recent weeks, including Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who also allegedly drank on the job. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday evening.
