(Ken Silva, Headline USA) On the heels of FBI Director Kashyap Patel suing The Atlantic for publishing a story that portrays him as a drunkard, The Intercept has revealed that Patel indeed has a record of public intoxication.
The Intercept reported Friday that Patel was twice arrested in the early 2000s—once in 2001 for public intoxication, and again in 2005 for public urination.
Patel disclosed the incidents in a 2005 letter as part of his Florida Bar application.
Describing the 2001 incident, Patel said he was arrested after being kicked out of a University of Richmond in Virginia basketball game for “excessive cheering.”
“Upon exiting the arena, the officer placed me under arrest for public intoxication, as I was not yet of 21 years of age. I had consumed two drinks prior to the game,” Patel said in the 2005 letter.
"We attempted to relieve our bladders while walking home. Before we could even do so, a police cruiser stopped the group. We were then arrested for public urination.”
— FBI Director Kashyap Patel https://t.co/fV4fN34zEz pic.twitter.com/WtdVHXcaav— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 24, 2026
As for the 2005 incident, Patel said he and his friends were celebrating before the public urination incident.
“We went to a few of the local bars and consumed some alcoholic beverages. At the end of the night, we decided to walk home. In a gross deviation from appropriate conduct, we attempted to relieve our bladders while walking home,” he said. “Before we could even do so, a police cruiser stopped the group. We were then arrested for public urination.”
Patel said in his letter that the incidents are not representative of his usual conduct. A spokesperson for Patel told The Intercept that “These attacks are nothing more than an attempt to undermine a process that has already deemed him suitable to serve and a distraction to the record-breaking success of the FBI under Director Patel.”
Along with those incidents from the 2000s, Patel was caught drinking on camera in February, when he was pictured chugging beer with the U.S. hockey team after it won the gold medal in the Olympics. Patel’s antics reportedly displeased President Donald Trump.
“Trump — who does not drink — told Patel he was unhappy not only with that scene, but also with Patel’s use of government aircraft for the trip to Milan,” NBC reported last month.
Despite those public incidents, Patel sued The Atlantic magazine on Monday for $250 million—claiming an article that talked about mismanagement at the agency and his alleged excessive drinking was false and a “malicious hit piece.” The Atlantic said it stood by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the “meritless lawsuit.”
A day after he sued the Atlantic, a judge dismissed a lawsuit Patel filed last year against MSNBC contributor Frank Figliuzzi for saying on air that the FBI director “has been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover Building.” While Patel’s lawsuit was unsuccessful, MSNBC did retract Figliuzzi’s comment.
Meanwhile, congressional Democrats have written to Patel, asking him to fill out an Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)—a 10-question screening tool considered the “gold standard” for assessing harmful patterns of alcohol consumption.
Meanwhile, Democrats have written to Director Kashyap, asking him to fill out a questionnaire about his drinking.
It's called the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)—a 10-question screening tool for assessing harmful patterns of alcohol consumption. https://t.co/pfWmoRbfRu pic.twitter.com/xgDPPOGcXG— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 24, 2026
As reported first by NBC News, the AUDIT questions include “How many drinks containing alcohol do you have on a typical day when you are drinking,” “How often during the last year have you failed to do what was normally expected from you because of drinking,” and “How often during the last year have you been unable to remember what happened the night before because you had been drinking?”
Patel hasn’t publicly responded to the letter, which was signed by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and 17 other Democrats.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
