House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) announced Wednesday that an investigation has been launched into reports of alleged binge drinking by FBI Director Kash Patel.
Unlike in the Senate, the minority party in the House has investigative powers.
Democrats on the committee announced they will investigate Patel’s alleged alcohol use and demanded that the FBI director pass a screening test for alcohol use disorder.
Judiciary Committee Democrats wrote to Patel:
A scathing and explosive report recently revealed that the men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are privately – and sometimes publicly – alarmed by your “episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.” you.
After repeatedly and inexplicably disappearing for long periods of time and then reappearing noticeably drunk, it’s no surprise that your alleged drinking habits and erratic schedule have demonstrably had disastrous consequences for your performance as FBI director.
The inability of your staff to reach you has reportedly led to delays in time-sensitive decisions to advance investigations into terror cases, including apparently the issuance of FISA warrants.
On the other hand, your inability to control your impulses has reportedly undermined high-stakes criminal investigations, including the manhunt for the Brown University mass shooter and the search for Charlie Kirk’s killer last year. During both investigations you shared and broadcast incorrect information.
These claims confirm what the American people saw with their own eyes: You carried cases of alcohol aboard the FBI plane, drank “aperitivo” with foreign dignitaries, and drank beer in the Team USA locker room at the Olympic Games in Italy in a now infamous viral video. These glimpses into your relationship with alcohol would be alarming to see in an FBI agent; that we see them in the FBI director himself is shocking and indicative of a public emergency.
As you may know, federal law prevents employees in competitive government jobs from being “ordinarily us.”[ing] intoxicating drinks to excess.” The Department of Justice Ethics Manual for On- and Off-Duty Conduct applies this rule to all Department employees, including the FBI Director.
It’s amazing that the FBI director possibly being drunk on the job and endangering national security isn’t a bigger story.
As you will see, the investigation is trying to get to the bottom of reports of Patel’s alcohol abuse.
