CRASHOUT: Kash Patel issues FURIOUS THREAT

I do want to give you an opportunity. to respond directly to the allegations. in the Atlantic article that your. unexplained absences created a national. security risk. And beyond that, can you. say definitively that you have not been. intoxicated or absent during your tenure. as FBI director? I can say unequivocally that I never. listen to the fake news mafia. And as. when they get louder, it just means I'm. doing my job. This FBI director has been. on the job twice as many days as every.

director before me. What that means is. I've taken half as many days off as. those before me. What that means is I've. taken a third less vacation than those. before me. What that means is that this. FBI with this Department of Justice has. dropped the murder rate 20 points. What. that means is this FBI with this. Department of Justice has captured eight. of the top 10 most wanted fugitives in. the world, twice as many as the Biden. administration did in its entire four. years. What that means is this FBI has.

seized enough fentanyl off the streets. to kill 178 million Americans, a 31%. increase. What that means is this FBI. and this DOJ has arrested 43% more spies. in 14 months than the entirety of the. Biden administration. What that means is. this FBI has seen a reduction in opioid. overdose that's up to 20%. alone. What that means is that we have. found 6,300 child victims, 6,300. families have their kids back. That is a. 22% increase from the Biden.

administration. I'm on the job, I'm the. first one in, I'm the last one out. I'm. like an everyday American who loves his. country, loves the sport of hockey, and. champions my friends when they raise a. gold medal and invite me in to. celebrate. I've never been intoxicated. on the job, and that is why we filed a. $250 million defamation lawsuit. And. anyone of you that wants to participate, bring it on. I'll see you in court. Now, I hope you were listening carefully. because Kash Patel was asked a very. specific question. Quote, "Can you. definitively say that you have not been.

intoxicated or absent during your tenure. as FBI director?" And he responded by. saying that he doesn't listen to the. fake news, that he's taken fewer. vacation days than his predecessors, that the murder rate is lower than it. used to be, that he seized fentanyl, that they've arrested spies, all of. which is a lot of words to avoid. directly answering the question. Usually. when the answer to a damning question is. just no, you say no. Now, Kash did. eventually utter the words quote, "I. have never been intoxicated on the job.".

Now, to that point, I would present. this. >> [cheering]. >> So, the question becomes, when he's at. the Olympics chugging beers, was he. quote on the job? The FBI director isn't. exactly a 9-to-5 role. If somebody. commits a terror attack at 2:00 a.m. on. a Sunday, it doesn't matter if Kash is.

technically off the clock, he is still. the only FBI director we have. That's. the nature of the position. And as far. as intoxication is concerned, does that. mean he drank any alcohol? Does he have. to have consumed the legal limit, which. is .08? Does any amount of alcohol. suffice as intoxication? These are all. questions that differ depending on. whether you're looking for a legal. definition or using common sense. But. here's the important part. It may not. even matter whether we parse these. definitions or words or not, because if.

this lawsuit does move forward, The. Atlantic would have the opportunity to. take discovery to confirm the accuracy. of its reporting, which would include. taking sworn testimony not just of Kash. Patel, but of others with knowledge of. the underlying facts, including the two. dozen people who spoke to the outlet to. form the basis of this story. In other. words, by filing this lawsuit, Kash. Patel is potentially opening himself up. to sworn depositions, subpoenas, and. compelled testimony from every single. person who knows anything about his.

behavior. That is a significant gamble. for somebody whose entire defense here. seems to be that these stories are just. fake news. In fact, the reporter that. he's suing, Sarah Fitzpatrick, isn't. backing down in the slightest. When. confronted with the legal threats, she. simply said, "I stand by every word of. this reporting." The Atlantic called the. lawsuit meritless and said they'll. vigorously defend it. So, if Kash. Patel's hope here was to just chill them. into submission, it doesn't look like. it's working. So, again, we can squabble over legal.

definitions of intoxication and what it. means to be on the clock, but that all. might be moot if it turns out that there. are dozens of people who are capable of. saying outright that he has been. intoxicated by any definition of the. term during his tenure as FBI director. But, I want to zoom out here because the. reality is that The Atlantic will likely. have its day in court if the judge. doesn't just throw this case out. entirely, but it was what Kash Patel did. after this that's especially telling. So, The Atlantic article dropped Friday. night. By Sunday morning, Kash Patel was.

on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo. Not. just to announce his lawsuit of $250. million, but to do something even more. calculated. >> ask you about the mission because every. time I see President Trump, he says this. repeatedly that the election was rigged. in 2020. I mean, he says it all the. time. We all know that. And it's almost. getting lost because he says it so much. You've been at the FBI now 14 months. Have you done anything about that? And. do you have anything to tell us about. that? Absolutely, Maria. Look, um I've been.

with the president nearly since day one. on this. As I as I told you earlier, I. was the one that led the effort with. folks like Trey Gowdy, Johnny Ratcliffe, and Devin Nunes to expose the corruption. um that tried to thwart President. Trump's first presidential election run. And we saw the FISA abuses there. And I. lived through it, and the media came at. me then, too. That just shows you that. when you're over the target, you keep. pummeling the target because the media's. going to try and pummel you. We are not. going to take this and have not taken. this lying down. We did already indict. former Director Comey, and that's going.

through the judicial process, but we. also at this FBI, even though we. uncovered what we uncovered back in the. House Intel days, I had to come in here. and find rooms that they hid from the. world. I had to come in here and find. access on our computer systems in. restricted and prohibited case files. that they purposely put in places for no. one to see and find. We have found all. this information. We are working with. our Department of Justice partners, and. I am never going to let this go because. they not only have personally attacked. the presidency of the United States and. President Trump, but they tried to. thwart our elections and rig the entire. system. And I And that is not something.

that is going to stop on That is not. something I'm going to allow on my. watch. But you just have to remember, they built this disease temple over 20. and 30 years. We've got all the. evidence. I can announce on your show. that we've got all the information we. need. We're working with our prosecutors. at the Department of Justice and our. Attorney General Todd Blanche, and we. are going to be making arrests, and it's. coming, and I promise you, it's coming. soon. Now, I want you to think about. that for a second because the timing. here is not subtle at all. Kash Patel is. the Director of the FBI. His job is in.

question. The Atlantic just published a. story with 20-plus sources saying he's. drunk, he's unreachable, he's erratic, and his response is to go on Fox News. and promise mass arrests over a. 6-year-old election claim that has been. investigated, litigated, and rejected in. court over 60 times, including at the. hands of judges who Trump himself. appointed. This is the most transparent. effort that I've ever seen in real time. to protect his own job. He's not. announcing arrests because there's some.

real case here. He is announcing arrests. because Donald Trump's number one. obsession is the 2020 election. And. Patel is waving that obsession around. like a flare gun while his career is. going down in flames. In other words, when his own job is in trouble, his gut. reaction is to use our democracy as a. life preserver for himself. After all, what's sacrificing democracy so long as. Kash Patel can save his job, am I right? I asked Mark Elias about this point. Here's what he had to say. >> Donald Trump cares more about election.

denialism than anything else. So, if. you're Kash Patel and you're trying to. recover from, you know, the devastating. press coverage you received. If you're. Todd Blanche and you're trying to get. the job that Pam Bondi lost. What you do. is you feed the boss the the meal he. wants to eat and it's going to be junk. food and it's not going to be good for. you him or anybody else, but that junk. food is election denialism. It is lies. It is conspiracy theories. It is. right-wing disinformation, misinformation uh spread about the 2016.

election, the 2020 election, you know, cockamamie theories about, you know, deep state uh investigations uh uh of. Donald Trump. And all of that right now. is is grinding away in a federal. courthouse in Florida. So, my reaction. is everybody who cares about democracy, you got to be paying attention in the. week ahead, in the weeks ahead because. they're the FBI director, seemingly. sober by the way, Brian. You know, it's. early in the morning with Maria. Bartiromo, no reason why the FBI.

director wouldn't be sober. I'm just. saying. Seems to be in his right mind. Uh you know, talking about presumably. stuff that the FBI director is not even. supposed to be talking about, which is. imminent uh investi you know, pending. investigations and imminent uh arrests. Right. But, everybody needs to take this. seriously. So, please do me a favor and. do what I do, which is I subscribe to. this channel because I get a lot of my. news information analysis from what. Brian uh talks to his guests on. Uh he's. got a great series with uh with Glenn. Kirschner who covers particularly these.

criminal cases. So, go ahead and. subscribe to that right now. In other. words, Kash Patel knows exactly what. he's doing, and more importantly, who. he's doing it for. And look, this is. what happens when you fill one of the. most powerful law enforcement positions. in the world based on loyalty rather. than competence. The Atlantic's. reporting, sourced to more than two. dozen people, describes a director who. was drunk at private clubs in D.C. and. Las Vegas, who had meetings rescheduled. around hangovers, who has a security. detail that can't wake him and.

potentially needed to use SWAT breach. equipment, whose leadership has resulted. in senior officials inside his own. administration openly discussing his. replacement while he's still in the job. That's not a profile of a man who is. running the most important law. enforcement agency in America. That is. the profile of a man who got the job. because the president wanted a loyalist, not a director, and whose primary skill. set is not leadership but slavish. devotion to one man. So, if you're. wondering why it feels like so many. people are incompetent in this. administration, that is a feature, not a.

bug, because competence was never the. goal. I mean, hell, if they were. actually competent, the last place they. would be is in this White House. But. Trump is learning in real time that when. you fill your cabinet with clowns, you. shouldn't be surprised when it's run. like a circus. >> [music]. >> Before you go, I'm very excited to. announce that I've written a new book. titled The Day After: How to wield power. in a post-Trump world. The book explores. what is, in my opinion, the single most. important theme that we're dealing with. in politics today and moving forward,

power. Specifically, how Republicans. abuse it and how Democrats refuse to. wield it. This book explains how we got. here, and more importantly, how we. should finally wield power if we're. lucky enough to get it back. It is the. blueprint for progressives who want to. do far more than just restore the status. quo. Please pre-order today by following. the link on this screen. You can grab. yours from any of the major retailers. like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or. scroll down on the page and get a copy. from an independent bookstore closest to. you. Thanks so much for supporting. independent media.