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Earlier this week, we reported on the news that FBI Director Kash Patel has been sued AtlanticAlleging that the magazine defamed him with a recent article about his alcohol consumption and job performance.
In the wake of the article, Democrats in Congress called on Patel to answer questions about his drinking under penalty of perjury.
Patel has repeatedly denied that drinking is a problem, but he may have a hard time proving his case in the wake of today’s news that he was arrested twice for alcohol violations.
According to The Intercept, when Patel started working for the Miami-Dade County public defender’s office in 2005, he wrote a letter detailing revelations from his request to Florida attorneys regarding the two arrests.
He explained that the first incident occurred in February 2001, when he was a student at the University of Richmond.
He was under 21 at the time and claimed to have only had two drinks before he was ejected from the crowd at a Richmond basketball game for “excessive” cheering.
He paid a fine for violating the law.
The second incident occurred in 2005, when Cash was a law student at Pace University in New York City.
He says he was returning home with friends after a night out, when “in a blatant deviation from appropriate behaviour, we attempted to empty our bladders on the way home”.
In this case too, Patel was fined.
“Both incidents do not represent my usual behavior,” he wrote in the letter, adding:
“I hope the board views them as an anomaly. I doubly apologize for my inappropriate behavior to both the board and the community at large.”
“Cash’s background was fully vetted and thoroughly vetted prior to assuming this role,” Erica Knight, Patel’s spokeswoman, said this week in response. Atlantic condition.
“These attacks are nothing more than an attempt to undermine the operation that already deemed him fit for duty and a distraction from the record success the FBI has achieved under Director Patel’s leadership.”
“Several officials told me that Patel’s drinking was a recurring concern throughout the government. They said he was known to drink to the point of apparent intoxication, in many cases at Ned’s private club in Washington, D.C., while with the White House and other administration staff.” Atlantic Writer Sarah Fitzpatrick wrote at one point in the controversial article.
“He is also known to drink heavily at the Poodle Room, in Las Vegas, where he often spends parts of his weekends,” she continued.
“Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his nights of drinking, six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel’s schedule told me.”
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
