FBI Director Kash Patel filed a defamation lawsuit on Monday against a US magazine that reported he frequently drinks to excess and is in danger of losing his job.
Patel is seeking $250 million (€212 million) in damages from The Atlantic and the author of the article, Sarah Fitzpatrick, for what the suit described as a "sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece."
"Defendants are of course free to criticise the leadership of the FBI," the complaint filed in a federal district court in Washington says.
"But they crossed the legal line by publishing an article replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel's reputation and drive him from office," it says.
According to The Atlantic, Patel's job as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the top law enforcement agency, is in jeopardy in part because of what it said were "bouts of excessive drinking" and "unexplained absences."
In his defamation complaint, Patel took issue with the magazine's use of anonymous sources for the story.
"Fitzpatrick could not get a single person to go on the record in defence of these outrageous allegations, instead relying entirely on anonymous sources she knew to be both highly partisan with an axe to grind," the suit says.
"Defendants published the Article with actual malice, despite being expressly warned, hours before publication, that the central allegations were categorically false."
The Atlantic issued a statement on Monday defending the story.
"We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit," the magazine said.
Since being named FBI director, Patel has been accused of carrying out a purge of agents perceived as being disloyal to US President Donald Trump. Among those dismissed have been agents who worked on criminal cases brought against Trump after he left office in 2021.
