Nearly 20 House Democrats demanded last week that FBI Director Kash Patel take and share the results of an Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test by Tuesday amid accusations of excessive drinking, but as of Wednesday, Patel has yet to respond to the lawmakers’ request, a House Judiciary Democrats spokeswoman confirmed to Raw Story.
On April 21, 18 Democratic lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee signed off on a letter addressed to Patel citing a “damning and explosive report” published by The Atlantic earlier this month, in which multiple insiders told the magazine that Patel’s “excessive drinking” and “unexplained absences” had “alarmed” his colleagues at the FBI.
In the letter, the lawmakers issued Patel a deadline of April 28 to fill out and submit to Congress the results of the 10-question screening test developed by the World Health Organization in the 1980s to identify harmful alcohol use among individuals.
Patel has fiercely denied the accusations, responding by filing a $250 million lawsuit against The Atlantic for defamation.
“We understand that you have sued the journalists who have reported on the widespread concerns about your job performance and alcohol abuse, demanding a whopping $250 million in damages, plus disgorgement of income,” the letter addressed to Patel said.
“However, the American people deserve to hear the facts directly from you now – not your lawyers weeks or months from now – to determine for ourselves whether your continued leadership of the FBI in fact constitutes a severe ‘national security vulnerability.’”