When The Atlantic published an article on how FBI director Kash Patel’s love of partying can interfere with his job, WorldNetDaily’s Joe Kovacs gave Patel and other defenders an opportunity to respond at length in an April 19 article:
Kash Patel announced Sunday he will file a defamation suit Monday against the Atlantic for a hit piece claiming the FBI director is paranoid about being fired from his position and often drinks alcohol to excess.
“Absolutely, it’s coming tomorrow,” Patel told Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” on the Fox News Channel. “I will [sue] for defamation.”
“We are not going to take this laying down. You want to attack my character? Come at me. Bring it on. I’ll see you in court.”
It wasn’t until the final two paragraphs of his article that Kovacs gave the reporter an opportunity to respond — but he also did not quote Patel specifically rebutting any accusation made in the article.
Patel did file his lawsuit against the Atlantic, which was notable for the amount of typos and wonky grammar contained within, unusually sloppy for a federal complaint. Kovacs didn’t note that, but he devote a May 12 article to a clash between Patel and a Democratic senator:
A U.S. Senate hearing went off the rails Tuesday when FBI Director Kash Patel became embroiled in an fierce clash with a Democrat senator over which of the two might have a problem drinking alcohol.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland raised concerns about Patel’s leadership at the bureau, saying: “Director Patel, I don’t care one bit about your private life.”
“I don’t give a damn what you do on your own time and your own dime, unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities.
“You cannot perform those public duties if you’re incapacitated,” Van Hollen said, adding “reports of you being so drunk and so hungover that your staff had to force entry into your home.”
“It’s a total farce. I don’t even know where you get this stuff,” Patel said. “But it doesn’t make it credible because you say this stuff.”
“I’m not saying it, Director Patel, it’s been written and documented,” Van Hollen responded.
“You are literally saying it,” Patel fired back.
“No, I’m saying that these are reports,” Van Hollen said.
Patel then turned ferocious, pointing his finger at Van Hollen numerous times during his testimony, mentioning the Democrat’s high-profile drinks with accused gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia: “The only person slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang-banging rapist was YOU!”
As we’ve documented the last time WND focused on this, Abrego Garcia has not been proven to be a gang member, and Van Hollen has said that the margarita thing was a setup by the right-wing president of El Salvador — the glasses were placed on the table by Salvadoran officials halfway through the meeting and neither he nor Abrego Garcia drank them. Kovacs again failed to note the typo-ridden nature of Patel’s complaint against the Atlantic.