FBI defends Kash Patel after report alleging he gifts custom whiskey bottles

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Thu 7 May 2026 14.00 EDT
Last modified on Thu 7 May 2026 14.32 EDT


The FBI said that agency director Kash Patel “followed all applicable ethical guidelines” after a report in the Atlantic alleged that he distributed customized bourbon whiskey bottles as gifts. In an article published on Wednesday, the Atlantic described Patel as travelling with a stock of “personalized branded bourbon” that he allegedly hands out frequently to people around him.

The report says the bottles feature the branding of the Kentucky distillery Woodford Reserve and are engraved with the phrase “Kash Patel FBI Director”, along with an image of an FBI shield. Around the shield is text that includes Patel’s title and his preferred stylization of his first name: Ka$h. The shield is held by an eagle clutching the number nine, probably referring to Patel’s position in the sequence of FBI directors.

Ben Williamson, the FBI’s assistant director, said in a statement to the Guardian: “The Atlantic’s premise is false and misleading. The bottles in question are part of a common practice in the FBI that started well over a decade ago, long before Director Patel arrived. “Senior Bureau officials have long exchanged commemorative items in formal gift settings consistent with ethics rules. Director Patel has followed all applicable ethical guidelines and pays for any personal gift himself,” the statement added.

According to eight individuals interviewed by the Atlantic – including current and former FBI and Department of Justice officials, as well as others familiar with the practice – Patel has given out these customized whiskey bottles to FBI personnel and civilians he has met through his work. A senior FBI source told the Guardian: “Any bottle provided in an official capacity was part of that type of formal gift exchange. If Director Patel ever provided one as a personal gift, he reimbursed the Bureau.” The source added: “Director Patel has never consumed the alcohol.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/07/fbi-defends-kash-patel-custom-whiskey-bottles

---

REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143661473

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-Kash Patel's personally branded liquor bottles create new challenge for FBI director

The beleaguered director didn’t need another alcohol-related controversy. He has one anyway.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/kash-patel-bourbon-bottles-fbi-atlantic

Kash Patel’s tenure as FBI director has featured a lengthy stream of failures and controversies, but a brutal report in The Atlantic last month was among the lowest of the low points. The report, relying on more than two dozen sources, alleged that FBI personnel have expressed concerns about the director’s unexplained absences and excessive drinking, which have reportedly alarmed colleagues and potentially created a security risk.....

It’s against this backdrop that The Atlantic published Fitzpatrick’s latest report on Patel on Wednesday afternoon, which created a new headache for the bureau’s beleaguered director:

President Trump’s FBI director has a great deal of affection for swag. Merchandise for sale on a website he co-founded — still operating, nearly 15 months into his term — includes beanies ($35), T-shirts ($35), orange camo hoodies ($65), trucker caps ($25), “government gangsters” playing cards (on sale for $10), and a Fight With Kash Punisher scarf ($25).

One thing not for sale is liquor, because liquor is something Patel gives away for free.

While previous FBI directors have avoided branded merchandise, the incumbent has bottles of personalized branded bourbon, engraved with the words “Kash Patel FBI Director.” As The Atlantic’s report added, surrounding the image of an FBI shield “is a band of text featuring Patel’s director title and his favored spelling of his first name: Ka$h. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9, presumably a reference to Patel’s place in the history of FBI directors. In some cases, the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel’s signature, with ‘#9’ there as well.”

This is not just some keepsake for the director to put on a shelf. On the contrary, the report (which MS NOW has not independently verified) noted that Patel has handed out the bottles to FBI staff and civilians, and it is “not unusual for him to travel with a supply of personalized branded bourbon,” domestically and internationally.

The article added that the FBI has traditionally had “a zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized use of alcohol on the job and for its misuse while off duty,” but under Patel, that standard is apparently “bending.”....

The Atlantic’s article, however, noted, “When I reached a former longtime senior FBI official to ask whether he’d ever seen personally branded liquor bottles distributed by a previous FBI director, he burst out laughing.”

Time will tell what, if any, impact this will have on Patel’s professional future, but it’s worth noting that Donald Trump is a longtime teetotaler, and it was nearly two weeks ago when Politico reported that things “aren’t looking great” for Patel, adding that he appeared likely to be the next high-ranking official to exit the administration. This dovetailed with related observations about just how little the White House has done to defend Patel, or even to say his name out loud, in the face of multiple controversies.

[Ray Bruns]

2. The fucked up thing is that all the gifted bourbon bottles are empty.

[oldsoldierfadingfast]

7. Wanna bet ...

on if they were full when he got'em???

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Does he smuggle them into Pennsylvania? /nt

[sop]

4. Has any other FBI Director ever gifted custom whiskey bottles with his name and the FBI shield on the label?

FBI spokesperson: “Senior Bureau officials have long exchanged commemorative items in formal gift settings consistent with ethics rules." I'm sure they've exchanged "commemorative items" in the past, but custom whiskey bottles with the Director's name and the FBI shield on the label? Show us these commemorative whiskey bottles. And does the FBI shill expect anyone to believe that "Director Patel has never consumed the alcohol"?

[maxsolomon]

5. Oh, well if BEN WILLIAMSON says its NBD...

[11 Bravo]

6. Nothing says "I don't have a drinking problem" quite like your own personalized bourbon bottles.

[kacekwl]

8. Lies

Followed by more lies.

[LudwigPastorius]

9. "Around the shield is text that includes Patel's title and his preferred stylization of his first name: Ka$h."

You gotta be $hitting me.

[MoseShrute]

10. Exactly

I’m going to start using “Ep$tein” in comments.