The FBI has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into whether information was leaked to a reporter for The Atlantic, who wrote that FBI Director Kash Patel’s quote “excessive drinking” was causing deep concern in the bureau. Carol Leonnig, a senior investigative reporter for MS NOW, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.
Amna Nawaz:
The FBI has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into whether information was leaked to a reporter for “The Atlantic,” who wrote that FBI Director Kash Patel’s — quote — “excessive drinking” was causing deep concern in the bureau.
Patel was asked about the report last month.
Kash Patel, FBI Director:
I have never been intoxicated on the job. And that is why we filed a $250 million dollar defamation lawsuit. And anyone of you that wants to participate, bring it on. I will see you in court.
Amna Nawaz:
Late this afternoon, “The Atlantic” published an update to its story that included this photo that shows custom bottles of bourbon with Kash Patel’s name on them that he reportedly gives out.
Joining us now to discuss this and more is Carol Leonnig. She’s the senior investigative reporter for MS NOW.
Carol, welcome back. It’s good to see you.
Carol Leonnig, MS NOW:
Good to be with you.
Amna Nawaz:
So I want to start with the news that you broke, that the FBI is investigating Sarah Fitzpatrick. That’s “The Atlantic” reporter behind that Kash Patel story.
And I want to start by putting to you what the FBI assistant director had to say in a statement about your report. He said: “This is completely false. No such investigation like this exists. The reporter you mention is not being investigated at all. Every time there’s a publication of false claims by anonymous sources that gets called out, the media plays the victim by investigations that do not exist.”
Carol, what’s your response to that?
Carol Leonnig:
My response is that we stand by our reporting.
We have been told by multiple sources that, at the director’s instruction from his executive suite, a unit in Huntsville, Alabama, was ordered to begin investigating and reviewing this “Atlantic” reporter’s contacts, her — and begin potentially looking at her phone, metadata, and social media contacts.
Again, we don’t know the status of what the FBI has obtained, but we know that they have been ordered to open this investigation. We also — I want to emphasize something for viewers of your show who probably don’t deal with the Department of Justice and the FBI every day.
When the FBI and the Department of Justice open investigation, it’s based on typically a predicate that they have reasonable belief that a crime has occurred. And, in this case, the FBI agents are raising concerns about whether or not any such predicate exists to open this investigation.
Typically, when there’s an investigation of a leak, it’s criminal because classified information has been released. And there’s a big question mark here about what potentially is classified, and there’s a big question mark as well about why the FBI has to start with a reporter, when usually that is the sort of step of last resort.
And even Pam Bondi, who repealed the requirements for when you could compel telephone metadata or other information from a reporter’s provider, even though she restricted — or loosened those restrictions, Pam Bondi’s memo also required that these techniques, these investigative techniques, be used only in extraordinary circumstances.
Amna Nawaz:
And, Carol, just to underscore your point, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of “The Atlantic,” issued a statement this morning in response to your report, saying, in part this.
He said: “If confirmed to be true, an FBI criminal leak investigation targeting our reporter would represent an outrageous attack on the free press and the First Amendment itself. We will defend “The Atlantic” and its staff vigorously.”
But, Carol, while I have you, I want to ask you about another topic of news that broke this morning. That’s the FBI raiding the offices of Virginia State Senate Leader Louise Lucas. She’s a Democrat.
What more do we know about that?
Carol Leonnig:
This is a case, as it happens. I have been watching for a long time to see when it matured, let’s say.
I have been hearing from sources, and we reported today publicly, but I’ve been hearing for a long time that this case was brewing. It was first opened under the Biden Department of Justice, so at least three years ago. And this investigation was looking into evidence suggesting that this prominent Democrat in Virginia state politics had either accepted or solicited bribes.
I don’t know the details of what she’s alleged to have taken, but I know that that was the basis for the investigation. Another key thing to share with your viewers is that my sources have told me for many, many weeks now that former acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, a close Trump ally, had put on intense pressure on prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia when she was running that office to bring charges against Lucas.
Now, those prosecutors were worried about the robustness, I guess I would say, of this case, but also feeling that it wasn’t completely cooked and that Halligan’s pressure was inappropriate. It was in an effort to sort of land a punch, if you will, against a Democrat before the midterms.
And now the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District has indeed raided her home. I should say the FBI have, under the auspices and direction of the Eastern District of Virginia, and we’ll see what charges, if any, are brought.
Amna Nawaz:
That is Carol Leonnig, senior investigator reporter for MS NOW.
Carol, thank you so much for your reporting and your time.
Carol Leonnig:
Thank you.
