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Some FBI agents are uncomfortable with their reported new investigative assignment: to hunt down the leakers who made bureau Director Kash Patel look bad, according to a report.
The FBI may be undertaking a criminal investigation into both a leaker and a journalist who produced a damning story about Patel, according to a new report.
According to two anonymous sources who spoke to MS NOW, it is unusual for a leak investigation to follow the release of non-classified information and for such an investigation to focus on information given to a reporter.
The Atlantic’s Sarah Fitzpatrick wrote a story that painted an unflattering image of Patel as a leader. The piece examined Patel’s behavior, from claims that he’s been misusing bureau resources — such as using the FBI jet to fly to his girlfriend’s concert or to see the U.S. men’s hockey team play in the Olympics — to more troubling allegations that he becomes so drunk that he can’t be roused by his team.
Fitzpatrick’s story cited two dozen anonymous sources. Immediately after it was published, Patel claimed the accusations were untrue and sued The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick for $250 million in a defamation lawsuit.
In response, Fitzpatrick said she not only stood by her reporting, but also said that in the wake of Patel’s reaction, even more sources within the government had reached out to provide her with information.
According to the sources who spoke to MS NOW, some of the FBI agents who have reportedly been tapped to carry out Patel’s leak hunt have expressed discomfort with the idea of investigating a journalist in what they see as an act of government retaliation.
“They know they are not supposed to do this,” one source said. “But if they don’t go forward, they could lose their jobs. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied that any investigation of the kind was being conducted.
“This is completely false. No such investigation like this exists and the reporter you mention is not being investigated at all,” he told the network. “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 Independent has requested comment from the FBI.
The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, issued a statement in response to the report.
“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,” he wrote. “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.”
Seth Stern, the Chief of Advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, issued a statement on Wednesday calling the alleged probe “outrageous.”
“The FBI’s probe would be outrageous even if The Atlantic reported classified information, which it didn’t. The FBI is reportedly conducting an invasive leak investigation merely to settle a personal vendetta. Separately, it doesn’t make much sense for Patel’s FBI to investigate leaks from what Patel’s lawsuit over the same reporting called ‘sham sources.’ Fake sources can’t leak,” Stern said in his statement.
Last month, The New York Times — also citing anonymous sources — reported that the FBI had investigated a reporter at the paper to determine whether or not she had digitally stalked Patel’s girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins.
The reporter, Elizabeth Williamson, was never in physical proximity to Wilkins. Williamson asked the singer about Patel’s alleged use of FBI agents to escort and transport Wilkins.
The FBI told the NYT that “while investigators were concerned about how the aggressive reporting techniques crossed lines of stalking,” there was no active investigation into Williamson.
Stern noted the previous alleged investigation in his statement on Wednesday.
“This is the second time in recent weeks we’ve learned that the bureau has baselessly investigated constitutionally protected, highly newsworthy reporting that was unfavorable to its director — last month, news broke that it investigated reporter Elizabeth Williamson, after she wrote about Patel’s use of government resources for transportation and security expenses for his girlfriend,” he wrote. “Both show complete disregard for the First Amendment and for the FBI’s supposed mission of stopping crime, not serving as PIs for its leadership on the taxpayer dime.”
In January, the FBI seized two computers, a digital recorder, a Garmin watch, a cell phone, and a portable hard drive from Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home. Natanson is not being investigated. The FBI was searching for evidence concerning Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones, a systems administrator with top-secret security clearance who has been charged with unlawfully obtaining and then sharing classified materials.
Two federal judges have ruled that the government cannot access Natanson’s devices to search for evidence.
Natanson was awarded a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for public service resulting from her reporting on mass firings by the Department of Government Efficiency.
