On April 17, 2026, The Atlantic published an article alleging that FBI Director Kash Patel
In the days that followed, rumors spread across the internet about Patel's supposed drinking habits, both past and present. Among them was a claim that Patel had been arrested twice for drunken behavior, once in 2001 on a charge of public intoxication and again in 2005, on a charge of public urination.
Snopes readers searched the site looking for more information about Patel's alleged arrests.
We found that the claims originated with an NBC News report published April 22 and an article from The Intercept published April 24. The Intercept said it had obtained the information by filing a public records request with the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office, Patel's first workplace after graduating from law school.
In a statement to NBC News, Patel's spokesperson confirmed the 2001 incident was real, calling it a "25-year-old college incident that was disclosed to the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation process."
We submitted public records requests to the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office, the Federal Public Defender's Office for the Southern District of Florida, the Department of Justice and the FBI, all places Patel has worked. We also contacted a spokesperson for Patel for comment, who referred us to the statement provided to The Intercept.
"Kash's entire background was thoroughly examined and vetted prior to him assuming this role," spokesperson Erica Knight said. "These attacks are nothing more than an attempt to undermine a process that has already deemed him suitable to serve and a distraction to the record-breaking success of the FBI under Director Patel."
Reviewing Patel's personnel file from the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office, Snopes found the same document that The Intercept cited in its reporting. That document, a 2005 letter titled "Florida Supreme Court Bar Disclosure Statements," was written by Patel as part of his application for the Florida Bar.
Based on the letter, Patel has been arrested twice for drunken behavior; therefore, the claim is true.
In the 2001 incident first reported by NBC News, which Patel's spokesperson confirmed, Patel was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication after being kicked out of a college basketball game in Richmond, Virginia, where he earned his undergraduate degree. The following paragraph is from Patel's 2005 letter as published by The Intercept:
My friends and I are avid supporters of Richmond athletics, so much so that we founded the Student Athletic Club. While in attendance of a home basketball game, school officers regulated our cheering. During one of the timeouts, I was informed by a school officer that my cheering was excessive, after which point he escorted me out of the arena. Upon exiting the arena, the officer placed me under arrest for public intoxication, as I was not yet of 21 years of age. I had consumed two drinks prior to the game.
In the 2005 incident, which Patel described in the same letter as "a gross deviation from appropriate conduct," he and his friends were returning from a night out at the bars. They "attempted to relieve [their] bladders while walking home," but a police cruiser stopped and arrested them for public urination:
In February/March of 2005, some friends and I were out celebrating. We went to a few of the local bars and consumed some alcoholic beverages. At the end of the night, we decided to walk home. In a gross deviation from appropriate conduct, we attempted to relieve our bladders while walking home. Before we could even do so, a police cruiser stopped the group. We were then arrested for public urination.
Patel's past actions surfaced following The Atlantic's April 17
In response, Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic, seeking $250 million in damages. Because he is a public figure, Patel must prove not only that The Atlantic published falsehoods but that it did so knowingly or with "reckless disregard for the truth" — a legal standard called "actual malice."
If Patel hopes to take The Atlantic to trial, he will also have to go through a discovery phase, which could involve subpoenas for relevant evidence (in this case, evidence about his drinking habits) and giving a deposition under oath.