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The FBI has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into sources that provided information regarding the agency’s director, Kash Patel, and his alcohol drinking habits to The Atlantic, which published details about them last month.

The article in question, produced by staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick, relied on dozens of sources, including former and current FBI officials, members of Congress, former advisers to Patel, and others in the director’s orbit. The report detailed multiple instances of Patel’s alleged drinking habits and their consequences, including having to reschedule meetings and agents being unable to wake him up due to apparent intoxication.

“Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences,” the article explained.

In addition to the heavy drinking that sources detailed to The Atlantic, the article reported that Patel experienced episodes of paranoia.

“He is erratic, suspicious of others, and prone to jumping to conclusions before he has necessary evidence, according to the more than two dozen people I interviewed about Patel’s conduct,” Fitzpatrick wrote.

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On Wednesday, MS NOW reported that the FBI had opened an “insider threat investigation” regarding who leaked information about Patel to The Atlantic. Such an inquiry is highly unorthodox, as insider threat investigations typically stem from leaks involving classified information, not reports on public figures within the agency or federal government in general.

The extent of the alleged investigation is unclear, but could include obtaining Fitzpatrick’s phone records, examining her social media messages and contacts, and running her name through FBI databases to determine who, exactly, her sources were for the story on Patel.

The FBI denies that the investigation is happening.........

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