Will Donald Trump Fire Kash Patel Next? FBI Director Reportedly On Thin Ice For 'Excessive Drinking' And Targeting Journalists

FBI Director Kash Patel is facing mounting questions in Washington over his future, with former Trump officials and current lawmakers suggesting he could be the next senior figure pushed out of the administration amid allegations of excessive drinking and aggressive tactics towards journalists.

The pressure centres on Patel's conduct in office in the United States, and on whether Donald Trump will decide to remove the FBI director in the coming months.

Former Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor, who served under Trump before breaking with him, told MSNBC's streaming channel that he is astonished Kash Patel has lasted this long.

Taylor said Trump 'doesn't tolerate' heavy drinking and argued Patel's position is now precarious, predicting he will be out of the FBI before the US Labor Day holiday. He pointed to previous reporting that Trump had already considered replacing Patel and said he would be 'very surprised' if the director makes it through the summer.

Kash Patel And The Drinking Allegations Trump Is Said To Despise

The most damaging claims about Kash Patel's behaviour were laid out in an April article in The Atlantic. Citing more than two dozen anonymous officials, the magazine said Patel's drinking had been a 'recurring source of concern across the government' and alleged that he was 'known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication.' The piece went further, quoting sources who argued his conduct could 'threaten national security.'

Patel has denied those allegations and has filed a defamation lawsuit seeking $250 million (£183.57 million) in damages. The Atlantic has rejected his claims and said it will 'vigorously defend' its journalism, insisting it stands by the reporting.

The scrutiny has not stopped with that one article. Separate reporting by The Intercept resurfaced a 2005 disclosure Patel made to the Florida Bar, in which he set out two arrests from his younger years.

One involved public intoxication after he was removed from a college basketball game. The other concerned public urination while he was a law student in New York. In the letter, Patel described the latter as 'a gross deviation from appropriate conduct' after he and friends tried to 'relieve our bladders' on the walk home from bars.

Democratic congressman Ted Lieu has seized on that narrative. Citing the Atlantic report at a press conference, Lieu said Patel 'appears to be a raging alcoholic' who 'should not be FBI director' and ought instead to 'go seek help and treatment.'

He framed Patel's situation as part of what he called the 'out of control incompetence and corruption' of Trump's cabinet, which he branded the worst since America's founding era.

Is Kash Patel 'Next' To Go In A Turbulent Trump Team?

The question of whether Donald Trump will actually fire Kash Patel has become a small political subplot in itself. Politico reporter Dash Burns quoted a senior White House official on X saying Patel is 'likely the next Cabinet‑level official to go' and that 'it's only a matter of time.'

The unnamed official, granted anonymity, reportedly described the drumbeat of negative stories as 'not a good look for a Cabinet secretary' and said Trump is fed up with the distraction.

The White House has not publicly confirmed any plan to remove Patel. A separate request for comment on more recent claims about his conduct, including alleged efforts to target journalists, also went unanswered, according to one report.

Following The Atlantic article, there were reports that Patel had ordered lie‑detector tests and may have sent agents to tail journalists involved in covering him. As of this reporting, none of that has been formally acknowledged on the record, and Patel has portrayed himself as the victim of 'fake news', vowing in a Fox News interview to fight back through the courts.

For now, the only certainty is that Patel's tenure is unfolding against a backdrop of wider upheaval. Labour Secretary Lori Chavez‑DeRemer resigned on Monday amid a separate misconduct probe, following Trump's earlier decisions to sack his attorneys general and his Homeland Security secretary, Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem.

Kash Patel was appointed FBI director in the Trump administration and has lately been dogged by overlapping rows about his behaviour and judgment.

In February he was filmed celebrating with the USA men's hockey team at the Milan Olympics after their gold medal win, chugging beer and slapping a table.

According to reports at the time, Trump told him directly he was disappointed by the spectacle. That incident has since been followed by detailed reporting on his drinking habits, a high‑stakes defamation suit, and claims he has tried to punish reporters who covered him.