The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened what is being described as a highly unusual criminal leak inquiry into Sarah Fitzpatrick, the Atlantic journalist whose reporting on FBI Director Kash Patel’s drinking habits and erratic behaviour provoked a $250 million defamation lawsuit and a torrent of institutional backlash. Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed to MSNBC that the investigation focuses on how Fitzpatrick obtained sensitive information for her April article, which relied on more than two dozen sources and painted a portrait of a paranoid director frequently absent from duty and consuming alcohol on the job. A spokesman for the FBI has categorically denied the existence of any such investigation, but viewed from Washington, the move represents an extraordinary departure from precedent: an FBI director deploying the bureau’s investigative powers against a journalist who wrote critically about him. Analysts in London note that such an inquiry would normally require safeguards against political interference, and its launch so soon after Patel’s appointment raises questions about the independence of America’s premier law-enforcement agency.

The controversy does not end there. The Atlantic followed its initial exposé with fresh reporting that Patel has been handing out custom-branded bottles of Woodford Reserve bourbon — engraved with his name, title, and the FBI shield — as commemorative gifts to staff and civilians. Eight people told the magazine that the director distributed the liquor at events, and one bottle was purchased at an online auction from a seller who claimed to have received it from Patel in Las Vegas. Current and former FBI officials expressed alarm, with one telling The Atlantic: “Handing out bottles of liquor at the premier law-enforcement agency — it makes me frightened for the country.” The personalised swag echoes J. Edgar Hoover’s souvenir fingerprint cards, a cult of personality that later directors consciously avoided.

Meanwhile, Patel has inserted himself into an unrelated high-profile case: the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie. Speaking on Sean Hannity’s podcast, Patel claimed the FBI was “kept out” of the critical first four days of the investigation. The Pima County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona swiftly disputed this, stating that an FBI task-force member was present at the scene from the outset. The dispute, coming amid the broader scandal, has further eroded confidence in Patel’s stewardship. As the FBI pursues a journalist over a story it denies investigating, and as its director defends branded bourbon as routine memorabilia, the institution faces a crisis of legitimacy that, from the perspective of international observers, threatens to undermine its credibility long after the headlines fade.