The lawyer FBI Director Kash Patel has enlisted to help him go to war against The Atlantic for a report accusing him of “excessive drinking” is known for several unsuccessful MAGA-aligned lawsuits.
Jesse Binnall represented former North Carolina lieutenant governor Mark Robinson in a failed defamation lawsuit against CNN and also worked on President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
“See you in court,” Binnall posted on X following the publication of a Friday report by The Atlantic, which cited sources familiar with Patel, 46, alleging he was alarming officials with excessive drinking, erratic behavior, and unexplained absences.
Binnall also shared a letter sent to the outlet by Binnall Law Group, where he is a partner, urging it to block publication of the exposé.
In the letter, the attorney highlighted what he described as false and defamatory statements published by the outlet and included two allegations that The Atlantic did not publish.
The first was that Patel was viewed as a “threat to public safety,” and the second that he once had his security detail shut down the FBI Association store so he could shop alone, at one point complaining that the merchandise “wasn’t intimidating enough.”
Despite the legal threats over that report, a previous case involving Binnall fell through. Robinson hired Binnall Law Group in his suit against CNN in 2024, initially seeking $50 million in damages—but he dropped it just a few months later in January 2025 and announced his retirement.
Robinson, 57, had denied the report’s claim that he posted messages on a pornography website in which he called himself a “black NAZI,” expressed support for slavery, and described Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.”
The then-Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate said he was “confident that Binnall Law Group will leave no stone unturned” and would “hold CNN accountable for their lies.”
However, after losing his 2024 gubernatorial bid following a scandal-plagued campaign, Robinson abandoned the legal case.
In March, Robinson revealed that “there’s some truth” to the CNN story and acknowledged that he had an “obsession” with pornography and sex.
Binnall also represented a group of Nevada Republicans in a 2020 election fraud lawsuit linked to Trump’s re-election campaign. That lawsuit was dismissed after a judge said none of the evidence provided had backed up the allegations.
Similarly to Robinson, Patel—who has denied the allegations published—has said he will sue The Atlantic and hired Binnall Law Group to represent him.
“See you and your entire entourage of false reporting in court...” the FBI director posted on X on Friday, adding, “But do keep at it with the fake news, actual malice standard is now what some would call a legal lay up.”
The bombshell report cited unnamed people close to the FBI director who claim he is worried about his job, with one former official saying he is “rightly paranoid,” as officials have described his alleged excessive drinking as a source of concern.
In February, footage from the Winter Olympics in Italy showed Patel chugging a beer while mingling with Team USA, with Trump, 79, reportedly scolding the FBI director in private following his antics.
Patel has also been under media scrutiny for his alleged use of a taxpayer-funded private jet to fly to Nashville to see his 27-year-old country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Binnall and the FBI for comment.
