FBI Director Kash Patel Previously Admitted to 2 Alcohol-Related Arrests

FBI Director Kash Patel is suing over claims he's been drunk on the job ... but he reportedly admitted in the past to twice being arrested for alcohol-related offenses around 2 decades ago.

When Patel worked for the Miami-Dade County Public Defender's Office back in the day, he wrote a letter elaborating on a couple disclosures from his Florida Bar application, which related to his past arrests ... and The Intercept obtained a copy.

Patel wrote he was arrested for public intoxication in February 2001 when he was a junior at the University of Richmond. He said he was under 21 years of age at the time and had two drinks before getting booted from the crowd at a Richmond basketball game for "excessive" cheering. He said he paid a fine.

Patel said in February/March 2005 -- when he was a law student at Pace University in New York -- he went out celebrating with friends and had some drinks at local bars. He said they walked home from the bars and "in a gross deviation from appropriate conduct, we attempted to relieve our bladders while walking home." Patel said before he could piss, a police cruiser stopped the group and arrested them for public urination. He said he paid a fine.

In an article published last week, The Atlantic reported Patel "has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences."