One former FBI official suggested that Kash Patel start “acting like a grownup” instead of targeting the press for its coverage of his actions as FBI director.
On Wednesday’s episode of MS NOW’s “Katy Tur Reports,” the host questioned former FBI official Chris O’Leary about Patel’s choice to open a criminal leak investigation into The Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick after a story ran about his alleged heavy drinking.
“As an FBI agent, you cannot open up investigations based on somebody’s speech or their First Amendment protected rights,” O’Leary said. “You can’t go after the press. But none of those standards seem to matter anymore. And, you know, Kash Patel and other false patriots very conveniently shred the Constitution as quickly as they can when it is inconvenient for them, when such granular reporting comes out about things that we’re already seeing with our own eyes.”
He added: “If he doesn’t want critics to continue to report on him, he should start acting like a grown-up, like a professional, and like you would expect the Director of the FBI to be.”
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied any investigation in a statement, claiming Fitzpatrick is “not being investigated at all.”
“Every time there’s a publication of false claims by anonymous sources that gets called out, the media plays the victim via investigations that do not exist,” he said.
Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg told TheWrap in a statement that, if there was an investigation, it would be “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; we will continue to cover the FBI professionally, fairly, and thoroughly; and we will continue to practice journalism in the public interest,” Goldberg said.
The alleged investigation comes on the heels of the FBI Director suing the publication for $250 million in a defamation lawsuit following Fitzpatrick’s report that alleged Patel’s extensive drinking had impacted his performance, including episodes where his security detail had struggled to wake him up.
You can watch the full segment in the video above.
