Democrats Ask Kash Patel To Take Alcohol Disorder Test

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Huff Post

Apr 22, 2026, 04:45 AM EDT


WASHINGTON — Democrats want FBI Director Kash Patel to prove he hasn’t got a drinking problem. In a letter to Patel on Tuesday, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), said he should take the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, a short questionnaire used to screen for harmful or hazardous alcohol use.

“There are numerous accounts that you consume alcohol to the point of illness, direct profanity-laced outbursts at support staff, and pass out drunk behind locked doors in episodes making you so unreachable that agents have had to fetch SWAT-level breaching equipment to awaken you,” the letter says.

The letter is based primarily on a story published last week in The Atlantic reporting that two dozen unnamed sources inside and outside the FBI believe “the problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences.”

Patel denied the story and sued The Atlantic this week for $250 million in damages over its alleged defamation of his character, claiming the magazine published “false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office.”. But there’s no denying that time Patel aggressively chugged beer — on camera — with the American men’s ice hockey team after their gold medal victory in the Winter Olympics.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kash-patel-drinking-atlantic-defamation_n_69e831bae4b0dc1990b723a4?origin=home-latest-news-unit

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Link to House Judiciary Democrats PRESS RELEASE - Judiciary Democrats Launch Investigation into Reports of FBI Director Kash Patel’s Alcohol Abuse, Demand He Submit to Alcohol Abuse Screening

Link to House Judiciary Democrats LETTER (PATEL inquiry) (PDF) - https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-04-21-raskin-et-al-to-patel-fbi-re-conduct.pdf

Link to House Judiciary Democrats LETTER (PATEL inquiry CC: COMER) (PDF) - https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-04-21-raskin-et-al-to-jordan-re-patel.pdf

[Ray Bruns]

1. Kash Patel has responded by declining to take the test because he's too hung over from the night before

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Jeanine, Pete, and Kash /nt

[Blues Heron]

3. Random drug test all of them

[FakeNoose]

4. There should be a survey of the people around him, including his girlfriend, co-workers, etc.

He'll lie through the entire test, so his test results will be questionable. But the people who interact with him on a daily basis ... they're the ones who know the truth.

[mopinko]

9. beat me to it. those tests

r only as good as the answers u give. if u dont want to admit u have a problem, u lie.

[ultralite001]

5. Forget this... Go all in...

Self reporting is notorious for self reporting bias. People lie.

Serious questions about serious compromise of the FBI's Director to perform his official duties require serious answers.

Random blood + urine alcohol / drug testing... Breathalyzer... The works... By independent, board certified, legally qualified individuals +
labs. No appointments. No time to prep. No time to swap bodily fluids w/ another individual or otherwise fudge the results. No cheating.

Release the results to the American public -- All the results.

America is in peril. Ka$h is doing nothing to make America safer, +, as Director of the FBI, Ka$h may be significantly contributing to it's problems...

Let the investigations begin.

Remember the FBI motto: "Fidelity -- Bravery -- Integrity"...

Once that's done, let's move on to the President + members of his Cabinet + other appointees... It's time for Spring Cleaning...

[TexasBushwhacker]

14. Lab work can reveal a lot about long term drinking behavior

Alcoholism runs in my family, through multiple generations. One brother likes his beer and occasionally wine and has had 2 DUIs. He said last year he had a month of social events and then went in for routine blood work. The results came back problematic and he cut back on his drinking.

As a Hindu, Kash was probably not exposed to much alcohol use in his family. It's just not part of their culture. So "drinking responsibly" is probably not something he ever learned. He probably started drinking in college and that's when many people develop problems.

[ultralite001]

15. Supported by the fallacy...

It's the American Way...

[TheRickles]

6. The Dems should do a head-to-head challenge. Line up Kash and Hegseth and whoever

in a face-off against AOC and Raskin and whoever, as they complete this questionnaire.

And then round two will be cognitive testing, with Trump going head-to-head against Schiff (or anyone, really). And when the R's decline, call them "Chicken!". I'm guessing it'd be good for a few headlines, either way.

[ultralite001]

16. Pay per View...

I'd watch...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. MaddowBlog-House Democrats launch Patel probe, demand he submit to alcohol abuse screening

If the beleaguered FBI director was hoping the allegations about his alleged drinking problem would be a one-day story, he has reason to be disappointed.

I have a hunch Kash Patel won’t like the fact that House Democrats are demanding that he submit to alcohol abuse screening.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-22T14:29:16.781Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/house-democrats-launch-patel-probe-demand-he-submit-to-alcohol-abuse-screening

A day later, House Democrats went noticeably further. On Tuesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, not only announced a new investigation into Patel, but the Maryland Democrat and his partisan colleagues also demanded that Patel submit to an alcohol abuse screening. From the written correspondence sent to the bureau’s director:

For the sake of our own security, we need to know, for example, ‘how many drinks containing alcohol do you have on a typical day when you are drinking,’ ‘how often during the last year have you failed to do what was normally expected from you because of drinking,’ ‘how often during the last year have you needed a first drink in the morning to get yourself going after a heavy drinking session,’ and ‘how often during the last year have you been unable to remember what happened the night before because you had been drinking?’

The Judiciary Committee’s Democrats also sent a parallel letter to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who chairs the panel, urging additional security in light of the seriousness of the allegations.

“Given the severity of the national security risks associated with these, we request that you make clear to Director Patel that if he fails to provide the requested information by next week’s deadline, the Committee will be requiring him to appear at a hearing in person and under oath to address Members’ well-founded concerns,” they wrote.,,,,

Meanwhile, Donald Trump hasn’t exactly scrambled to defend his handpicked FBI director. In fact, the president has been conspicuously quiet about the former podcast personality of late, failing to say his name out loud or online in roughly a month.

The Atlantic’s report added that Patel is “deeply concerned that his job is in jeopardy.” There’s no great mystery as to why.

[BidenRocks]

8. A blood test focusing on the Hepatic panel.

Drinking problems will show up in elevated liver enzymes.
Mine ratted me out.
Light Cirrhosis. Busted.

[usonian]

10. Traffic stop in the hallways and hearing rooms.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. House Democrats demand Kash Patel complete the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test

Link to tweet

[travelingthrulife]

12. Surely someone was videoing the FBI having to use a battering ram to get into

his office when he was passed out.

Put it out there if you took an oath to protect our country.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. Here are the questions Raskin wants Patel to answer:

[LetMyPeopleVote]

17. Kash Patel blows past alcohol test deadline as critics label him 'raging alcoholic'

Kash Patel is ignoring the alcohol test deadlines. I suspect that Patel is going to have fun in discovery if his silly case against The Atlantic goes to trial.

FBI Director #KashPatel has not submitted the test results to Congress and hasn't responded to Democrats’ request, the House Judiciary Democrats spokeswoman confirmed to Raw Story.

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2026-04-29T19:30:20Z

https://www.rawstory.com/kash-patel-2676830790/

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.’”