White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Crime across country has plummeted to the lowest level in more than 100 years. Director Patel remains a critical player on the administration’s law and order team.”

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino explained to this audience this week that the reporting was “totally false” and that “there’s something much bigger going on here, and the reason why will become clear very soon.”

“The hit on Kash Patel, the bullsh-t hit by The Atlantic, which I addressed yesterday, is gonna make a lot more sense in the coming weeks and months,” Bongino explained. “I can’t give you a definitive timeline. I’m on the outside now. However, I can tell you what I know is going on because I started a lot of it.”

“Look me in the eye, and I’m telling you, I promise this thing is gonna make a whole lot of sense. You’re gonna find out, as they say in the South, right quick about why they need him out, like, now. It’s got nothing to do with that story being even remotely true. Remember this. Bookmark it.”

“This is what the left does: they manufacture a narrative, find a publication to run with it, and then use it as the pretext for discovery-style records requests aimed at forcing Patel out. Now, ask yourself why Democrats want to force him out so badly. The Atlantic published a lie. Democrats pounced on it immediately. The entire response feels bizarrely coordinated. We’ll all understand why soon,” Bongino declared.

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The Atlantic’s explosive article alleges that while in charge of the bureau, Patel has consumed alcohol “to the point of obvious intoxication” in front of White House officials and other Trump administration staff.

On multiple occasions within the past year, the article said, members of his security detail have also “had difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated.”

During a press conference on Tuesday alongside Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Patel hit back when a reporter asked him about the allegations.

“I can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia, and as when they get louder, it just means I’m doing my job,” Patel said.

When asked about a video showing Patel partying and drinking with the U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey Team, he said, “I’m on the job. I’m the first one in. I’m the last one out. I’m like an everyday American who loves his country, loves the sport of hockey, and champions my friends when they raise a gold medal and invite me in to celebrate. I’ve never been intoxicated on the job, and that is why we filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit. And any one of you that wants to participate, bring it on, I’ll see you in court.”

Patel then tore into a reporter who focused on a small part of the story that said the director couldn’t log into FBI systems at one point. The Atlantic said that Patel “panicked, frantically” because he thought he might lose his job.

Patel said on Tuesday that the detail was false, but his $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic shows that he “had a routine technical problem logging into a government system.”

Patel was asked by NBC’s Ryan Reilly what he was thinking on the day he was unable to log in to his government computer.

“The problem with you and your baseless reporting is that is an absolute lie. It was never said. It never happened. And I will serve in this administration as long as the president and the attorney general want me to do so,” Patel said, telling Reilly, “you are off topic.”

“The answer to your question is you are lying. … I’ve answered your question. It’s simply as follows: I was never locked out of my systems,” Patel said.

Reilly then pointed out that Patel’s own lawsuit acknowledges he was at one point locked out of his computer.

“Your lawsuit says the opposite,” Reilly said. “The lawsuit you filed says that.”

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