Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Kash Patel vows lawsuit over 'The Atlantic' report

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Kash Patel vows lawsuit over 'The Atlantic' report · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back. FBI Director Cash Patel on defense this morning,
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  Speaker 1: denying allegations laid out in a new report detailing his
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  Speaker 1: alleged drinking habits and absences from the bureau. This article
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  Speaker 1: in The Atlantic sites more than two dozen people, including
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  Speaker 1: unnamed current and former FBI officials, who allege excessive drinking
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  Speaker 1: and erratic behavior described as quote freakouts from Patel. Several
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  Speaker 1: officials cited say Patel is known for quote obvious intoxication
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  Speaker 1: at private clubs, both here in Washington and in Las Vegas,
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  Speaker 1: and that many staffers are just waiting for the announcement
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  Speaker 1: that Patel's going to be fired from his post, citing
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  Speaker 1: his unreachability and impulsivity. The Atlantic also wrote that President
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  Speaker 1: Trump has complained Patel has seemed unprepared for TV appearances
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  Speaker 1: and that some investigations he directed Patel to pursue haven't
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  Speaker 1: moved quickly enough. Patel took to social media to defend himself, writing,
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  Speaker 1: in part, quote no amount of BSU write will ever
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  Speaker 1: deter this FBI from making America safe again. Yesterday, he
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  Speaker 1: announced on Fox News that plus his plans to sue
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  Speaker 1: The Atlantic for defamation, but notably, he also took time
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  Speaker 1: in that interview to promise that the DOJ would soon
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  Speaker 1: be making arrests related to the twenty twenty election. Launch.
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  Speaker 1: Every time I see President Trump, he says this repeatedly,
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  Speaker 1: that the election was rigged in twenty twenty. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: he says it all the time. We all know that,
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  Speaker 1: and it's almost getting lost because he says it's so much.
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  Speaker 1: You've been at the FBI now fourteen months. Have you
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  Speaker 1: done anything about that? And do you have anything to tell.
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  Speaker 2: Us about that?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely? Maria. Look, I've been with the President nearly since
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  Speaker 3: day one on this. We've got all the effortence I
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  Speaker 3: can announce on your show that we've got all the
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  Speaker 3: information we need. We're working with our prosecutors, a Department
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  Speaker 3: of Justice and the Attorney General Todd Blanche and we
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  Speaker 3: are going to be making arrest and it's coming, and
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  Speaker 3: I promise you it's coming soon.
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  Speaker 1: I want to bring in MS now senior National Security
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  Speaker 1: reporter David Rod. We're going to dig into why I
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  Speaker 1: thought it was so notable that Patel would use that
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  Speaker 1: appearance on Maria Bartiromme show to announce some potential investigations
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  Speaker 1: around the twenty twenty election that Trump lost. But first
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  Speaker 1: I want to focus on this story by our former
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  Speaker 1: colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick where she talked to two dozen people
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  Speaker 1: for it, and there were a lot of allegations within it.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder which stood out to you the most and
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  Speaker 1: what you make about the atmosphere that it paints around
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  Speaker 1: Cash Betel and the FBI.
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  Speaker 2: So, first of all, ms NOW hasn't been able to
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  Speaker 2: corroborate or confirm the specific allegations in the report, but
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  Speaker 2: it comes as there's been a series of reporting our
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  Speaker 2: colleagues Kendelanian and Carol Lenin about how he has conducted himself.
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  Speaker 2: One pattern has been that he's when he's criticized in
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  Speaker 2: the press. This was according to the FBI Agents Association,
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  Speaker 2: that's sort of the union that represents FBI agents. When
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  Speaker 2: he's criticized, there's subsequently been firings, and that this has
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  Speaker 2: been firings. There was specific firings recently about FBI agents
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  Speaker 2: who were in a counter espionage unit. This was before
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  Speaker 2: the war began with Iran. But those kind of firings,
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  Speaker 2: the concerns are from current and former agents that they
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  Speaker 2: weaken the country in terms of defending it when it
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  Speaker 2: is at war, and so that's one element of his
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  Speaker 2: leadership that I think has frustrated folks.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's the underlying premise too in the
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  Speaker 1: Atlantic story, this idea that his behavior allegedly is one thing,
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  Speaker 1: but then the impact on the Bureau itself and America's
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  Speaker 1: national security is the other. And that's really of paramount importance.
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  Speaker 1: But the other piece of this for Patel is how
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  Speaker 1: do you end up keeping your job? Because there were
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  Speaker 1: large questions looming in the aftermath of Pam Bondi's firing
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  Speaker 1: about if Patel was next. And I think when I
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  Speaker 1: see him go on Fox News and say we're going
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  Speaker 1: to be making arrest connected to the twenty twenty election,
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  Speaker 1: it does seem like things we've seen other people in
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  Speaker 1: his position do to try to shore up their position
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  Speaker 1: in Trump's eyes. Okay, I'm in a bad place. Let
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  Speaker 1: me move on something I know the president cares about.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and so in terms of the twenty twenty election,
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  Speaker 2: it's this is an old These are old claims by
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  Speaker 2: President Trump. You know, his attorney general in twenty twenty,
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  Speaker 2: Bill Barr, a deep conservative, you know, disagreed with the
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  Speaker 2: President and told the president you did not win the
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty election. He subsequently resigned. Chris Ray, who was
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  Speaker 2: appointed by President Trump. Chosen by President Trump, did not
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  Speaker 2: find evidence of any of these crimes that it sounds
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  Speaker 2: like Patel says there are going to be a rest
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  Speaker 2: regarding So it's it's concerning. Many many courts have reviewed
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  Speaker 2: these claims and dismissed them. So if there are rest coming,
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  Speaker 2: there must I don't understand what the evidence is. So
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  Speaker 2: we just have to see if these arrests actually happen.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's the piece of it, David. For those
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  Speaker 1: of us who are watching, whether it's cash Patel saying
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  Speaker 1: arrests are coming around twenty twenty, whether it's Tulci Gabberd
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  Speaker 1: going to the Fulton County Board of Elections, we are
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  Speaker 1: watching these embattled Trump officials try to make something out
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  Speaker 1: of debunked conspiracy theories. And I wonder when you put
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  Speaker 1: your national security on as it always is, what you
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  Speaker 1: see in those attempts. As we head into the November elections,
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  Speaker 1: where there is widespread concern about what election security might
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  Speaker 1: look like and ensuring that elections stay free and fair.
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  Speaker 2: I'm very concerned. Just last week Telsey Gabbard made a
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  Speaker 2: criminal referral to the Justice Department regarding the first impeachment
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  Speaker 2: of Donald Trump. This would be back in his first term,
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  Speaker 2: and it was a criminal referral to the whistleblower who
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  Speaker 2: alerted first the intelligence community about the call between President
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  Speaker 2: Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenski. The allegation was that Trump
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  Speaker 2: threatened to withhold aid from Ukraine if it didn't investigate
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  Speaker 2: Joe Biden. At the time, this was a call in
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  Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, and this criminal referral involved the whistleblower themselves,
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  Speaker 2: who's remained anonymous, and then the Inspector General of the
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  Speaker 2: Intelligence Community at that time, Michael Atkinson. He found it
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  Speaker 2: to be a credible and urgent threat. That's the definition
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  Speaker 2: for what needs to go to Congress, and Atkinson sent
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  Speaker 2: it to Congress. But now Telsea Gabbert has referred them
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  Speaker 2: for criminal investigation. It's not definite they're going to be charged,
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  Speaker 2: But that's just another example of what you're describing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, attempts to rewrite history despite the fact that courts,
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  Speaker 1: as you mentioned in many of these scenarios around twenty twenty,
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  Speaker 1: and in the situation that you're mentioning as well, have
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  Speaker 1: found that there's no there there, and yet we know
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  Speaker 1: what remains a priority of the President. M has Now,
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  Speaker 1: Senior national security reporter David Rhade, Thank you as always