The Liberty Daily 
(The Epoch Times)—FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic and its staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick over an article, alleging its claims were false.
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Patel stated the magazine and Fitzpatrick “published the Article with actual malice, despite being expressly warned, hours before publication, that the central allegations were categorically false,” also “despite having abundant publicly available information contradicting those allegations,” and “despite obvious and fatal defects in their own sourcing.”
The Atlantic article by Fitzpatrick, which cited anonymous sources, claimed Patel allegedly drank in excess and that his colleagues were concerned. At one point, Fitzpatrick wrote that “multiple current officials” and “former officials who have stayed close to him” were concerned about the alleged drinking, also claiming that President Donald Trump is seeking to replace him following the ouster of former Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The lawsuit stated that the defendants’ “conscious decision to ignore the detailed, specific, and substantive refutations in the Pre-Publication Letter, and their refusal to give a reasonable amount of time for the FBI and Director Patel to respond, is among the strongest possible evidence of actual malice.”
According to the lawsuit, his lawyers said that The Atlantic has a “documented, long-running editorial animus” against the FBI director. “Defendants cannot evade responsibility for their malicious lies by hiding behind sham sources,” they added.
The Epoch Times reached out to The Atlantic for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Actual malice is a legal standard that requires public figures such as Patel to argue that a publisher knowingly published false information or ignored concerns about its accuracy.
The standard, established in a landmark 1964 Supreme Court decision, also effectively holds public officials or figures to a higher standard when they file defamation lawsuits.
In an April 17 post on X, Fitzpatrick defended her reporting and said she spoke with two dozen people who are “familiar with Patel’s conduct” before publishing the story.
She also said that in response to “19 detailed questions,” Patel allegedly responded, “Print it, all false. I’ll see you in court – bring your checkbook.”
The magazine’s story was initially titled “Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job,“ but it was later changed to ”The FBI Director Is MIA,” according to the complaint.
The Epoch Times could not immediately verify the claims contained within the article or why The Atlantic changed the headline of the report.
A spokesperson for The Atlantic defended the article and its reporting in a statement to media outlets.
“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,” it said in a statement to media outlets, responding to the lawsuit threat.
Last week, Patel’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, wrote in a letter to The Atlantic that many claims in the article were false and threatened to sue the publication. Patel also said in a weekend interview with Reuters that he would sue.
Trump himself has filed multiple defamation lawsuits against media outlets, including against CNN, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Judges have dismissed those lawsuits, although the president has re-filed his complaint against the NY Times.
However, Trump has obtained settlements with others. ABC News agreed to settle a case for $15 million plus $1 million in legal fees in one claim, while Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million for what the Trump administration called “deceptive editing” of a CBS News interview with his then-2024 opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Epoch Times contacted the White House for comment on April 20 but did not receive a response by publication time.
Reuters contributed to this report.
