The FBI director has called the allegations ‘false reporting’ and said he would sue the Atlantic reporter who published them

FBI Director Kash Patel has threatened to sue over bombshell claims reported in a magazine profile that the Trump administration official is deeply paranoid about being fired and often drinks to excess, alarming officials at the law enforcement agency and beyond.

On April 10, according to the magazine, the director flew into a paranoid “freak-out” when faced with a technical issue with a computer system. The report claims Patel thought it was a sign he was being fired and he began calling aides and allies in a panic.

The most explosive allegations in the article are regarding Patel’s alleged excessive drinking.

The official is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication at clubs in Washington and his home city of Las Vegas, according to the piece, violating FBI conduct standards and potentially leaving the nation’s top law enforcement official vulnerable to coercion or exploitation.

Early in his time leading the bureau, meetings had to be rescheduled to later in the day to accommodate his nighttime drinking, the report claims.