Stephen Colbert had a field day with embattled FBI director Kash Patel’s “tough weekend.”
On Monday night, the late-night host quoted from an explosive Atlantic report about Patel’s alleged “excessive” drinking problem and “erratic behavior.”
“Apparently, ‘he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication,’ and it’s so bad that ‘meetings and briefings have had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights,’” Colbert said, reporting from the publication’s piece.
“You boo all you want,” the Late Show host told his audience, “but being hungover is just normal for FBI agents, as we learned in ‘Silence of the Lambs.’”
The host played a doctored clip of the Oscar-winning film with Jodie Foster’s character–an FBI agent–telling Hannibal Lecter, “I need a blue Gatorade and a bacon, egg, and cheese.”
Colbert then ripped into the allegation that Patel’s security team requested breaching equipment because the 46-year-old FBI director was once “unreachable behind locked doors.”
“Wow!” Colbert exclaimed. “Breaching equipment! I’ve been drunk, but I’ve never been battering ram drunk.”
“I have never been so hungover that I needed my alarm clock to be the jaws of life,” he quipped.
The CBS host then said, “Like a drunk guy in at McDonald’s, Patel is fighting back.”
Patel has filed a $250 million lawsuit against the Atlantic for its report. Colbert played a clip of Patel telling Fox News, “We’re not going to take this lying down.”
“Yeah, they’re not going to take this lying down!” Colbert retorted. “They’re going to take it propped up in a recliner with a trash can the roommate gave you just in case.”
Patel announced to Fox host Maria Bartiromo that he’s taking legal action, telling her he will be suing for defamation, “because, you know what, Maria? We have to fight back against the fake news. It’s one of the many things that President Trump is so successful at in leading out on, because no one is attacked as baselessly and as much as he is.”
The Atlantic article alleged drinking incidents, according to more than two dozen people familiar with Patel. The publication has backed its reporting. A spokesperson said on Monday, “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.”
The report, written by Atlantic staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick, featured numerous shocking claims.
“Several officials told me that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “They said that he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, in many cases at the private club Ned’s in Washington, D.C., while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. He is also known to drink to excess at the Poodle Room, in Las Vegas, where he frequently spends parts of his weekends. Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights, six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel’s schedule told me.”
Fitzpatrick told MS Now on Friday, “I stand by every word of this reporting. We have excellent attorneys.”
Patel has been slammed by other late-night hosts, including Jimmy Kimmel, who said in his Monday night monologue, “We all thought Pete Hegseth was the Trump poster boy for drinking too much. All of a sudden, Kash is like, ‘Hold my beer, and my martini while you’re at it.’”
