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Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump’s FBI director was the subject of an embarrassing story. Now, the FBI is going after the reporter.
What’s happening? On Wednesday, MS NOW reported that the FBI launched a federal criminal investigation “focusing on” Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick over a story she wrote last month about FBI Director Kash Patel.
The story, which is sourced to more than two dozen people, describes Patel as paranoid, frequently drunk, and ill-equipped for the job of FBI director.
Notably, however, it centers on Patel’s personal conduct in the role, and doesn’t contain any classified information. As MS NOW points out, that fact — as well as the investigation’s reported focus on Fitzpatrick rather than her sources — makes the investigation both abnormal and disturbing. (The FBI, for what it’s worth, has denied that any such investigation exists.)
On Wednesday, Fitzpatrick published a second story about Patel describing his habit of distributing customized bottles of bourbon engraved with his name, and sometimes signed.
What’s the context? The reported investigation into Fitzpatrick is the latest in a long string of attacks on press freedom under the second Trump administration, including another investigation — since dropped — into a New York Times reporter who reported on Patel and his girlfriend’s use of FBI resources.
The FBI also seized devices belonging to Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson earlier this year as part of a leak investigation reportedly targeting one of her sources. Natanson’s reporting won her a Pulitzer Prize earlier this week.
What else should I know? This isn’t even the only major FBI news from Wednesday: This morning, agents raided the office of Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas, who spearheaded a Democratic redistricting effort in Virginia that has helped to stymie Trump’s attempts to gain an edge ahead of the midterm elections.
The case reportedly centers on possible corruption allegations, but given Trump’s record of using investigations and indictments to punish his political enemies, the timing is conspicuous, to say the least.
