Former FBI Official Criticizes Kash Patel for Targeting Press Over Free Speech Concerns

Former FBI official Chris O’Leary criticized Kash Patel on Wednesday’s episode of MS NOW’s Katy Tur Reports, urging him to “start acting like a grownup” instead of targeting the press for its coverage of his actions as FBI director.

O’Leary’s remarks followed reports that Patel had allegedly opened a criminal leak investigation into The Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick after her story detailed his alleged heavy drinking.

O’Leary stated:

“As an FBI agent, you cannot open up investigations based on somebody’s speech or their First Amendment protected rights. You can’t go after the press. But none of those standards seem to matter anymore. And, you know, Kash Patel and other false patriots very conveniently shred the Constitution as quickly as they can when it is inconvenient for them, when such granular reporting comes out about things that we’re already seeing with our own eyes.”

He added:

“If he doesn’t want critics to continue to report on him, he should start acting like a grownup, like a professional, and like you would expect the Director of the FBI to be.”

In response, FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied any investigation in a statement, asserting that Fitzpatrick “is not being investigated at all.”

Williamson claimed:

“Every time there’s a publication of false claims by anonymous sources that gets called out, the media plays the victim via investigations that do not exist.”

The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg condemned the alleged investigation as an “outrageous attack on the free press and the First Amendment itself.”

Goldberg stated in a response to TheWrap:

“We will defend The Atlantic and its staff vigorously; we will not be intimidated by illegitimate investigations or other acts of politically motivated retaliation; we will continue to cover the FBI professionally, fairly, and thoroughly; and we will continue to practice journalism in the public interest.”

The alleged investigation follows Patel’s decision to sue The Atlantic for $250 million in a defamation lawsuit after Fitzpatrick’s report alleged his extensive drinking had impacted his performance, including instances where his security detail struggled to wake him.