(Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRep. Jamie Raskin (D, Md) and House Judiciary Democrats have requested that Patel complete a 10-question test designed to identify \u201chazardous drinking behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obviously, it would be easy for Patel to simply answer the questions untruthfully, so Raskin has also requested that Patel be sworn in and answer under the penalty of perjury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese glimpses of your relationship to alcohol would be alarming to see in an FBI agent; for us to see them in the FBI Director himself is shocking and indicative of a public emergency,\u201d reads a letter that Raskin and his colleagues wrote to Patel earlier this week (Via Fox News).<\/p>\n
The Atlantic<\/em> report alleged that sources who have worked with Patel have strong concerns about his alcohol intake and his related job performance issues.<\/p>\n\u201cPatel, according to multiple current officials, as well as former officials who have stayed close to him, is deeply concerned that his job is in jeopardy. He has good reasons to think so \u2014 including some having to do with what witnesses described to me as bouts of excessive drinking,\u201d Atlantic<\/em> staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick alleged at one point.<\/p>\n\n\u201cPrint it, all false, I\u2019ll see you in court \u2014 bring your checkbook,\u201d Patel said in a statement published by The Atlantic.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cI can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia, and as when they get louder, it just means I\u2019m doing my job,\u201d he added, during a joint press conference with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.<\/p>\n
Raskin\u2019s demand for transparency is unlikely to receive any sort of substantive response, as Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has already dismissed arguments that Patel should be made to testify under oath.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrime is down to record-low levels. Criminals are behind bars, and America is safer thanks to the leadership of President Trump and Director Patel,\u201d a spokesperson for the committee Republicans told Fox News this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just another unserious effort from anonymous sources and partisan actors to attack the President and his Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDefendants are of course free to criticize the leadership of the FBI, but they crossed the legal line by publishing an article replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel\u2019s reputation and drive him from office,\u201d reads the lawsuit filed this week by Patel.<\/p>\n
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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