FBI Launches Probe Into Reporter Who Covered Kash Patel’s Drinking

The FBI has launched a criminal leak investigation into the Atlantic reporter who reported on Kash Patel’s excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

The FBI’s probe is focused on journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, who reported last month that Patel was known to drink in excess, routinely delayed meetings and time-sensitive operations, and was often unreachable, two people familiar with the matter told MS NOW Wednesday.

The probe is different from a typical leak investigation because it did not stem from a leak of classified information, and instead focuses on leaks to a reporter, the sources said.

“They know they are not supposed to do this,” one source told MS NOW. “But if they don’t go forward, they could lose their jobs. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

After The Atlantic published the story, Patel filed a $250 million defamation suit against the publication, claiming the article was “replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office.”

But if the claims are all false, then why investigate a leak?

This wouldn’t be the first time that Patel undermined his own lawsuit. Last month, Patel flatly denied something asserted in his own court filings. And Patel’s ongoing temper tantrum over the report has apparently only invited more government officials to reach out to Fitzpatrick.

FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied the bureau was investigating Fitzpatrick. “This is completely false. No such investigation like this exists and the reporter you mention is not being investigated at all,” he told MS NOW.

“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,” he added.

The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg gave a statement to MS NOW: “We will have further comment when we learn more. If true, this would be an outrageous, illegal, and dangerous attack on the free press and the First Amendment. We will defend Sarah and all of our reporters who are subjected to government harassment simply for pursuing the truth.”

This story has been updated.

Wannabe California governor Chad Bianco tried to pull a trump card during a GOP debate on CNN, and ended up humiliated on live TV.

During a prolonged exchange with host Kaitlan Collins, the MAGA-aligned Riverside County sheriff vehemently denied that he ever accused his Republican rival, GOP frontrunner Steve Hilton, of “swindling” his way into the Republican arena. But Collins had the receipts, and read them as Hilton stood just feet away.

“I saw the two of you chatting earlier, you and Mr. Hilton. You’ve actually had some harsh words for your fellow Republican,” Collins said. “You’ve called him ‘unethical and dishonest’ and said that he is trying to ‘manipulate Californians’ and ‘swindled his way into the Republican side.’ Are you saying that you don’t think Republican voters can trust Mr. Hilton?”

“I don’t know where that came from. I would tell you, in my entire life I don’t think I’ve used the word ‘swindle,’” Bianco said. “So I don’t know if you were quoting something or if you were saying that—if you were saying that.”

“It’s a quote from you to The Atlantic,” Collins clarified.

Hilton, a California businessman who previously worked for British Prime Minister David Cameron, has been endorsed by Donald Trump. He is currently tied in the polls with Democrat Xavier Becerra, pulling roughly 18 percent of the vote.

Bianco tried to qualify his language, and in doing so again denied having ever used the word “swindle.”

“I don’t know where that came from. I would never, I would never use the word ‘swindled,’” he stuttered.

He then claimed he was the only person on the stage whose job—as a local law enforcement official—revolved around the truth, noting that “right now, lying can get me removed from my job.”

But Collins offered more specifics, quoting directly from an interview that Bianco did with KBAK in March in which the sheriff asserted that Hilton was trying to figure out how he can “manipulate Californians to put him in this position at a time when we know that California Democrats have failed and we are going to vote for a Republican governor, and he has swindled his way into the Republican side, even though he’s not.”

“I probably did say that,” Bianco admitted. “I didn’t use the word ‘swindle’, whatever it was. But that context, I will agree with that 100 percent.”

“So you did say the quote?” Collins pressed.

“Sure,” Bianco said.

It would be a shocking turn of events if Bianco’s blustery performance did anything but hurt him at the polls. During the same debate, the 58-year-old touted his Oath Keeper alliance until one of his opponents, Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, reminded him that the extremist militia group participated in the January 6 insurrection.

“You’re an Oath Keeper. We all know that,” Villaraigosa said.

“And I’m very proud of it,” Bianco interjected.

“I don’t think an Oath Keeper is qualified to be governor,” Villaraigosa continued.

Bianco later said he had sworn an oath three times “to defend my Constitution.”

“To everyone who wants to lie and get emotionally spun up about the Oath Keeper organization, I want you to go read the mission statement—” Bianco continued, before he was interrupted by another voice on stage: “I saw them on CNN attacking the Capitol.”

“Do you still consider yourself a member of that group, to be clear?” asked Collins.

“No,” Bianco replied.

Vice President JD Vance just reminded everyone what a charisma-less vacuum he is.

Speaking Tuesday at a manufacturing facility in Iowa, Vance stumbled through a speech attempting to boost Zach Nunn, a Republican running for reelection to the House.

“When I see that—when I see Iowa farmers who need to get that E-15 to market, what is, uh, this, what is, uh … Zach, you’re gonna have to help me out with her name here. I lost my page here. Alright. OK, there we go!” Vance said.

The crowd seemed fairly unimpressed with Vance’s riffing. The room stayed silent as Vance struggled, and video showed the people behind him half-heartedly holding up signs and looking around.

There are those of us old enough to remember in 2024 when Vance tried to congratulate himself for not needing to refer to notes while on the campaign trail.

“Ma’am, I don’t need a teleprompter, I’ve actually got thoughts in my head, unlike Kamala Harris,” Vance told the crowd in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Moments later in that speech, Vance mixed up Abbey Gate, the location of a horrific suicide bombing in 2021, with Abbey Road, the location of The Beatles’ London recording studio.

At least one Indiana Republican is still standing firm in his opposition to Trump after the president successfully enacted his revenge on the state’s Republicans blocking his redistricting efforts.

Trump-endorsed candidates won five of the seven state Senate primary races on Tuesday, a resounding victory for the president in an openly confrontational primary. But even in the face of a MAGA takeover in his state, Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray—whom Trump has been lambasting for months as a “total loser”—plans to stay and fight for his party, confirming his intentions to run for reelection in 2028.

“I do plan to run for pro tem again. And I, at this point, I need to make the case for whether, if I’m the right person to lead the caucus and the Senate, and we’ll see where that goes. I don’t make a forecast on that,” Bray told Politico on Wednesday.

Bray said he still believes he’s the right person to lead the Republican Party in Indiana, and refused to comment further on what the purging of his colleagues on Tuesday night means for the wider party.

But whether he’ll say so publicly or not, Bray will certainly have an uphill battle, as the target on his back and the momentum Trump has will make it hard to win his state back,.

President Trump’s about-face on Iran caught his Cabinet members off guard.

Trump announced Tuesday evening that he was pausing “Project Freedom,” his plan for U.S. Navy ships to escort other vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz, for a “short period of time” in order to help negotiations with Iran.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said that “we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

But only hours before, administration officials were publicly explaining and praising the plan.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio each touted the idea to reopen the strait in press conferences earlier in the day on Tuesday.

“Two U.S. commercial ships, along with American destroyers, have already safely transited the Strait, showing the lane is clear. We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact. They said they control the Strait. They do not,” Hegseth said, claiming that “hundreds more ships from nations around the world are lining up” to leave the strait with U.S. help.

“We maintain the upper hand, and Project Freedom only strengthens that hand,” Hegseth added, only for Trump to shelve the plan hours later.

At a different press conference, Rubio said the plan was key to ending the war with Iran.

“Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,” Rubio said. “We’re not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the president would prefer is a deal.”

Rubio said that Project Freedom would be offensive, and that the U.S. would not fire at Iran “unless we’re shot at.”

But yet again, Trump has changed his mind and hung his surrogates out to dry. The fate of the Iran war continues to be uncertain as the president claims that the war is over, yet swings between offering threats and new updates in negotiations.