A letter from his personnel file could further fuel the current allegations against FBI chief Kash Patel. There he admitted more than 20 years ago that he had been arrested twice in connection with alcohol consumption.
April 25, 2026, 2:54 p.mApril 25, 2026, 2:54 p.m
Charlotta Siemer / t-online
FBI Director Kash Patel is reported to have been arrested twice in the past for alcohol-related incidents. This is reported by the news site “The Intercept” based on a letter from Patel’s personnel file. One reason for his arrest was urinating in public after leaving a bar. The second incident was about underage drinking.
FBI Director Kash Patel: Can he handle the pressure?Image: keystone
In the 2005 letter to the Florida Bar, which The Intercept also published, Patel explained that when he was a law student at Pace University in New York, he had been partying with friends at several bars and had consumed some alcoholic drinks.
On the way home, the friends then “tried to empty our bladders on the way home, in a gross deviation from the rules of conduct.” The police then came before the bladder was emptied. “We were then arrested for urinating in public.” According to his own statements, he paid a fine after the incident.
In 2001, as a college student, Patel was arrested for public drunkenness for drinking alcohol as a minor, according to the letter. In the USA, the consumption of alcohol is only permitted from the age of 21.
Patel speaks of “fake news mafia”
“Both incidents do not correspond to my usual behavior,” Patel wrote in the letter. He had written it “at the direction of my employer,” the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office. “The Intercept” obtained the personnel file through a request for public documents from the authority.
Patel is currently under pressure in the USA because of allegations of alcohol abuse. On Tuesday, the FBI director took questions from journalists and, after a question about his alleged overconsumption of alcohol, spoke of a “fake news mafia”. Patel is now suing The Atlantic magazine for $250 million in damages. The medium kicked off the discussion last Friday with research into “excessive drinking”, constantly postponed appointments and difficulty in reaching people.
Kash Patel reacts irritably to allegations:
Video: Watson/Lucas Zollinger
The FBI chief’s spokeswoman told The Intercept that “Kash’s entire background was thoroughly reviewed and reviewed prior to his appointment.” “These attacks are nothing more than an attempt to undermine a process that has already found him competent and a distraction from the FBI’s record-breaking success under Director Patel.”
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