The FBI has launched a criminal investigation into information that was allegedly leaked to a reporter for The Atlantic who wrote a bombshell exposé accusing FBI Director Kash Patel of “excessive drinking” that was compromising his ability to do his job, according to a report by MS NOW.

Last month, Sarah Fitzpatrick at The Atlantic published an article titled “The FBI Director Is MIA,” with a subheading that read, “Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”

Fitzpatrick cited two dozen anonymous sources to report that Patel had been publicly drunk “to the point of obvious intoxication,” on multiple occasions, the FBI has had to reschedule meetings “as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights,” and even been so intoxicated his security detail “had difficulty waking” him and once had make a “request for ‘breaching equipment’—normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings…because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors.”

Patel vociferously denied the claims in the report and filed a lawsuit against The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick. The typo-riddled complaint faces substantial challenges to make it to trial, especially the discovery requests Patel would have to answer.

Wednesday’s article by MS NOW’s Ken Dilanian and Carol Leonnig cited two sources “familiar with the matter” to report that the FBI had launched a “criminal leak investigation focusing on” Fitzpatrick, conducted by agents in an insider threats unit in Huntsville, Alabama.

This “insider threat investigation” was “highly unusual,” the report continued, “because it did not stem from a disclosure of classified information and because it is focused on leaks to a reporter.”

It is rare for such a government investigation to focus on a journalist, and the sources reported “deep concern” about this matter among the FBI agents assigned to investigate it, wrote Dilanian and Leonnig.

“They know they are not supposed to do this,” one source told MS NOW. “But if they don’t go forward, they could lose their jobs. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

When reached for comment by MS NOW, FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied there was any investigation, calling the report “completely false.”

Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg issued a statement about the report.

“If confirmed to be true,” said Goldberg, “an FBI criminal leak investigation targeting our reporter would represent an outrageous attack on the free press and the First Amendment itself. We will defend The Atlantic and its staff vigorously; we will not be intimidated by illegitimate investigations or other acts of politically motivated retaliation; we will continue to cover the FBI professionally, fairly, and thoroughly; and we will continue to practice journalism in the public interest.”

This is not the first report about the FBI investigating a journalist who published unflattering information about Patel. In April, The New York Times reported that the FBI had investigated one of its reporters who covered Patel’s use of government resources to provide transportation and a security detail to his girlfriend, who is a country singer. Patel has denied these claims, calling the Times report “baseless.”

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