Overview
- MS NOW reported Wednesday that the FBI launched a criminal “insider threat” leak inquiry focusing on Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick, who wrote an April 17 story on Director Kash Patel’s alleged heavy drinking and absences.
- The FBI rejected the report, with spokesperson Ben Williamson saying no such investigation exists and that the reporter is not being investigated.
- The Atlantic stood by Fitzpatrick’s reporting, and editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg said any criminal probe of their journalist would be an attack on the free press.
- MS NOW said agents tied to an insider‑threat unit in Huntsville were assigned despite the story not involving classified leaks, and sources described unease over possible steps such as seeking phone records or running database checks.
- The dispute follows Patel’s $250 million defamation suit against The Atlantic and comes as DOJ protections for reporters adopted under Merrick Garland were rolled back in April 2025, alongside recent FBI scrutiny of a New York Times reporter and a court‑approved search of a Washington Post reporter’s home in a separate case.