California Gov. Gavin Newsom has mocked Kash Patel after the FBI director was accused of alienating top officials with excessive drinking in a bombshell new report.
“JUST SEEN: KASH’S NIGHT OUT!” Newsom, 58, posted on X on Saturday, attaching a short AI-generated video of Patel, 46, being escorted by two security guards as he stumbles about in an apparently drunken state.
Newsom’s post came as Patel vowed to sue over a Friday report in The Atlantic alleging that more than two dozen people familiar with the FBI director’s conduct have described his tenure as marked by excessive drinking, erratic behavior, and unexplained absences.
The report cited unnamed officials who are said to have described Patel as a national security risk and said he was known to drink beyond obvious intoxication, sometimes in the presence of White House officials and other administration staff.
In response, an FBI spokesperson provided a statement from Patel denying the allegations, while Patel also posted a message on X directed at The Atlantic’s editorial team: “See you and your entire entourage of false reporting in court...”
The Daily Beast has contacted the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the White House for comment.
President Donald Trump has not yet commented publicly on the claims in the report. But back in February, after real footage from the Winter Olympics in Italy showed Patel chugging a beer while mingling with Team USA, Trump reportedly scolded the FBI director in private for his antics.
The hockey-mad FBI director had called Trump, 79, during his raucous celebration. Trump famously does not drink after his brother struggled with alcohol abuse. “I got it, boss, I got it!” Patel was heard spluttering as Trump spoke on the phone.
Friday’s bombshell report also said the FBI director has grown paranoid about losing his job, with one former FBI official saying he is “rightly paranoid.”
The revelation comes after Trump fired two top Cabinet officials, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and was said to be plotting a wider shakeup.
Patel has also previously come under scrutiny after it was revealed he used taxpayer-funded jets to travel to visit his 27-year-old girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, in Nashville.
In response to Patel’s frequent jet use, Newsom called out the “waste,” “fraud,” and “abuse” on display by the FBI director.
Patel has also been criticized for his handling of the investigation into the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as well as the deadly shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. In both cases, Patel was accused of prematurely announcing breakthroughs that turned out to be wrong.
One official told The Atlantic that concerns about how Patel would act in the event of a domestic terrorist attack are what “keeps me up at night.”
,
