(AFP) – The FBI has opened a criminal leak investigation focusing on a journalist who wrote a critical article about Kash Patel, the head of the US law enforcement agency, the cable news channel MS Now reported on Wednesday.
Patel filed a $250 million suit last month against The Atlantic magazine and the author of the article, Sarah Fitzpatrick, calling it a “sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece.” The Atlantic story accused Patel of frequently drinking to excess and said he was in danger of losing his job as FBI director.
MS Now, citing two people familiar with the matter, said the FBI has launched a so-called “insider threat investigation” into the Atlantic story, which cited two dozen anonymous sources. The network said the investigation is highly unusual because leak probes are generally focused on government officials who leak information and not the journalists who publish it.
An FBI spokesman, Ben Williamson, denied to MS Now that an investigation was underway. “This is completely false,” Williamson was quoted as saying. “No such investigation like this exists and the reporter you mention is not being investigated at all.”
In a statement, The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, said “if confirmed to be true, 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,” Goldberg said in a statement.
According to The Atlantic, Patel’s job as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is in jeopardy in part because of what it said were “bouts of excessive drinking” and “unexplained absences.” Since being named FBI director, Patel has been accused of carrying out a purge of agents perceived as being disloyal to President Donald Trump. Among those dismissed have been agents who worked on criminal cases brought against Trump after he left office in 2021.
© 2024 AFP
