As an Indian-American, I’m deeply ashamed of Kash Patel. I feel the same way about Nimrata “Nikki” Haley – what terrible examples for the Indian-American community and for the Desi community writ large. THIS is our representation in the American government? A deeply uncool loser who was put in charge of the FBI for sh-ts and giggles? It’s insane. In Kash Patel’s fifteen-month tenure as FBI Director, he has mostly used his position to party, drink to excess, fly the FBI jet to see his girlfriend, ruin the Olympics, attend concerts and compromise multiple ongoing FBI investigations and intelligence operations. He’s been doing “purges” of FBI field offices and intelligence units. He’s been blackout-drunk on government property. And a lot more. The Atlantic devoted a big article to what’s really going on with Patel:
Patel had a huge freak-out this month: On Friday, April 10, as FBI Director Kash Patel was preparing to leave work for the weekend, he struggled to log into an internal computer system. He quickly became convinced that he had been locked out, and he panicked, frantically calling aides and allies to announce that he had been fired by the White House, according to nine people familiar with his outreach. Two of these people described his behavior as a “freak-out.” News of his emotional outburst ricocheted through the bureau, prompting chatter among officials and, in some corners of the building, expressions of relief. The White House fielded calls from the bureau and from members of Congress asking who was now in charge of the FBI. It turned out that the answer was still Patel. He had not been fired. The access problem, two people familiar with the matter said, appears to have been a technical error, and it was quickly resolved. “It was all ultimately bullsh-t,” one FBI official told me.
He’s worried about his job: But Patel, according to multiple current officials, as well as former officials who have stayed close to him, is deeply concerned that his job is in jeopardy. He has good reasons to think so—including some having to do with what witnesses described to me as bouts of excessive drinking. My colleague Ashley Parker and I reported earlier this month that Patel was among the officials expected to be fired after Attorney General Pam Bondi’s ouster, on April 2. “We’re all just waiting for the word” that Patel is officially out of the top job, an FBI official told me this week, and a former official told my colleague Jonathan Lemire that Patel was “rightly paranoid.” Senior members of the Trump administration are already discussing who might replace him, according to an administration official and two people close to the White House who were familiar with the conversations.
The denial: The FBI responded with a statement, attributed to Patel: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”
Drunk, afraid & out of touch: [Sources] said that the problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences…Several officials told me that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government. 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.
He passed out drunk behind locked doors: On multiple occasions in the past year, members of his security detail had difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated, according to information supplied to Justice Department and White House officials. A request for “breaching equipment”—normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings—was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors, according to multiple people familiar with the request.
Patel might have drunkenly compromised investigations: Patel’s drinking is no secret. While on official travel to Italy in February, he was filmed chugging beer with the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team following their gold-medal victory. The incident prompted the president—who does not drink and whose brother died following a long struggle with alcoholism—to call the FBI director to convey his unhappiness, according to two officials familiar with the call. But officials told me that Patel’s alcohol use goes far beyond the occasional beer. FBI officials and others in the administration have privately questioned whether alcohol played a role in the instances in which he shared inaccurate information about active law-enforcement investigations, including following the murder of Charlie Kirk.
He wants a makeover on the FBI’s merch: Patel has publicly proclaimed that the FBI needs to demonstrate that it is “fierce,” and officials I spoke with said that he is fixated on that image in private as well. He recently expressed frustration with the look of FBI merchandise, complaining that it isn’t intimidating enough. Officials have grown accustomed to such behavior, and they have learned to roll their eyes at it. But they said that the absurdity masks real concerns about what Patel’s leadership has meant for an institution that the country relies on for national security and the safety of its citizens. “Part of me is glad he’s wasting his time on bullsh-t, because it’s less dangerous for rule of law, for the American public,” one official told me, “but it also means we don’t have a real functioning FBI director.”
FBI sources actually spell out the imminent danger in stark terms, speaking about how the FBI would absolutely not be prepared if anything major happened right now, like a terrorist attack on domestic soil. I’m reminded of all of the reporting, for the past eight years or so, about how the FBI became MAGAville during the first Trump administration, and how they worked behind the scenes during the Biden administration to ensure another Trump term. F–k around and find out. I mean, it’s horrible for the American people and god help us all. But specifically within the FBI, f–king spare me the MAGA tears. These people got exactly what they wanted. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
They actually made Patel stop his weekend bender to do a couple of Sunday morning talk shows. I bet he was still drunk, actually. I won’t post any of that, but he swore up and down that he plans to sue the Atlantic. Sure.
it’s remarkable how crazy this video is, especially in light of what we just learned in that Atlantic article pic.twitter.com/Jg4HbFpVW1
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 19, 2026
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
