Report uncovers multiple instances of Kash Patel facing questions about drunken behavior

FBI Director Kash Patel has sued a publication for reporting on his alleged drinking-related problems, but that's not the first time his alcohol use has fallen under scrutiny in his professional life.

The Intercept obtained a 2005 letter included as part Patel’s personnel file at the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office, where he previously worked, that indicated he was instructed by his employer to describe the circumstances of two previous arrests disclosed on his Florida Bar application.

One incident occurred when he was a law student at Pace University in New York, about four months before he wrote the letter, while out celebrating with friends, and Patel wrote that the group stopped briefly on their walk home.

"We went to a few of the local bars and consumed some alcoholic drinks,” he wrote.

“In a gross deviation from appropriate conduct, we attempted to relieve our bladders while walking home,” Patel added. “Before we could even do so, a police cruiser stopped the group. We were then arrested for public urination.”

Patel wrote that he paid a fine after the incident and the matter was discharged.

He described another incident from February 2001, the month he turned 21 years old, when he was arrested for public intoxication for drinking underage while a student at the University of Richmond in Virginia, where he and some "avid supporters" of the athletic program helped run the Richmond Rowdies student fan group.

"While in attendance of a home basketball game, school officers regulated our cheering," Patel wrote. "During one of the timeouts, I was informed by a school officer that my cheering was excessive, after which point he escorted me out of the arena.

“Upon exiting the arena,” he added, “the officer placed me under arrest for public intoxication, as I was not yet of 21 years of age.”

Patel claimed he had consumed only two alcoholic beverages before the game, and he also paid a fine as a result of that misdemeanor charge.

The Intercept obtained Patel's personnel file through a public records request to the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office, which hired him at $40,000 a year after he was admitted to the Florida bar.

"Both of these incidents are not representative of my usual conduct of behavior, and it is my hope that the Board views them as an anomaly," Patel wrote. "I dually apologize for my improper behavior both to the Board and the community at large."

"I swear this is a true and accurate statement of the events that occurred," he added.