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FBI Director Kash Patel is firing back at The Atlantic, threatening to sue after the mag published a bombshell report accusing him of boozing too much and acting paranoid.

Patel announced his intentions Friday night, telling The Atlantic and its journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick he'll see their "entire entourage of false reporting in court."

He then egged them on, adding ... "But do keep at it with the fake news, actual malice standard is now what some would call a legal lay up."

He also shared an apparent screenshot of Assistant Director for Public Affairs at the FBI Ben Williamson's initial response to Fitzpatrick's request for comment, in which he called her allegations "absurd" and slammed her for giving him a 2-hour deadline.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani's rap career is all about the Benjamins ... about 16 of them -- because that's approximately what he made from royalties on his music last year.

The NYC mayor's tax filings are obviously public record ... and, he reported $1,643 in music royalties he made from songs he released as "Young Cardamom," which he called himself back in the day.

This is $376 more than he made from his music in 2024 ... almost certainly helped by his campaign for mayor -- though he probably shouldn't quit his day job to go after artistic pursuits again.

4:53 PM PT -- A rep for Gavin Newsom's political team tells TMZ ... "Governor Newsom did not do a "bulk buy" of $1.5M worth of books to boost sales. The book sales through his email list were individual sales done through a new, innovative approach that allows his list to receive copies of the book early. The campaign viewed the book offer as a major list-building and engagement opportunity – one of the largest of any campaign in the country."

The statement continues, "Supporters were invited to give whatever amount they could afford and still receive a copy of the book. The goal was participation and engagement, not fundraising. The campaign's list provided an opportunity for supporters to buy the book through a vendor consistently used by other authors. Each book was sold and sent out through the vendor, similar to buying from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. In total, more than 67,000 individual sales were made through the campaign's offers."

Want a copy of Gavin Newsom’s book? Turns out all it took was a donation -- and a PAC with deep pockets!

Here’s how it played out ... The New York Times reports Newsom’s political action committee shelled out more than $1.5M to scoop up copies of his memoir, "Young Man in a Hurry," and hand them out to supporters who chipped in -- any amount got you in the door.

And plenty of people took the bait. About 67,000 books were sent out through the donation deal -- accounting for roughly two-thirds of all print copies sold. Yeah … that bestseller run didn’t exactly happen the old-fashioned way.

The violent end of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax's life is reigniting scrutiny over the sexual assault allegations that rocked his career ... with one of his accuser’s attorneys speaking out after the apparent murder-suicide.

Nancy Erika Smith, who represented Meredith Watson -- the woman who came forward in 2019 accusing Fairfax of raping her when they were both students at Duke University around 2000 -- said her thoughts are with the couple’s children, who were reportedly home during the incident.

“First, this is horrific for their children who were home at the time of this event,” Smith said in a statement to the NY Post, before turning sharply critical.

Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax was found dead Thursday after an apparent murder-suicide, TMZ has learned.

D.C.'s WJLA-TV currently has a live stream outside the couple's home, where the incident happened.

The Fairfax County Police Department tells TMZ ... Fairfax, 47, and his wife were found dead at their home in Annandale, VA from gunshot wounds, with her body found in the basement and his in the bedroom.

According to police, Fairfax shot his wife dead and then turned the gun on himself.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reportedly has two of President Donald Trump's whistleblowers in her crosshairs ... and she's now getting the Justice Department involved in potentially prosecuting them for alleged crimes against DJT, according to a new report.

According to Fox News, Gabbard sent two criminal referrals to the DOJ -- one for a whistleblower who filed a complaint that led to Trump's impeachment in his first term. The other is for an ex-intelligence community inspector general who gave Congress a heads-up on the Trump accusations regarding a 2019 phone call he made as Commander-in-Chief to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In the referrals, Gabbard's general counsel wrote, "I want to refer information that may constitute possible criminal activity in violation of federal criminal law committed by one or more former employees of the intelligence community."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sounds like a bizarro Dr. Doolittle ... because he once chopped off a dead raccoon's penis.

President Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services has a new biography out, written by Isabel Vincent, containing a journal entry of him recalling a strange interaction with some roadkill.

In "RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise," there's a passage from RFK Jr.'s journal that reads ... "I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the penis out of a road killed raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be."

Yes ... RFK Jr.'s brother Douglas Kennedy and cousin Bobby Shriver are the family weirdos.

Luke Gulbranson is brushing off his reality TV past as he dives into politics ... saying voters in Minnesota aren’t checking his IMDb -- they’re checking their wallets.

The “Summer House” alum popped in to "TMZ Live" after he filed to run for Congress in Minnesota’s 8th District … and while plenty of folks recognize him, he says that’s not what matters on the ground.

“A lot of people know who I am,” Gulbranson told us, “but I’ve never lost touch with who I am ... I’m just a kid from the Iron Range.”

Erika Kirk was supposed to join J.D. Vance as he headlined a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia Tuesday ... but she backed out last minute after allegedly receiving "very serious threats."

Instead, TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet sat in for her, explaining to the VP -- and the audience -- why Charlie Kirk's widow didn't show.

Kolvet said ... "Mr. Vice President, I’m on stage here instead of our friend Erika Kirk because unfortunately she has received some very serious threats in her direction."

He added ... "It’s a terrible reflection on the state of reality and the state of the country."

Erika herself acknowledged her absence on X, saying she had been "looking forward" to the event ... but explained, "after all our family has been through, I take my security team’s recommendations extremely seriously."

Candace Owens, however, is not buying it. She accused Erika of backing out due to "bad ticket sales," telling her in a reply ... "Stop. This is exhausting."

Candace continued ... "People don’t believe you and don’t line up for you because you struggle to tell the truth about even the most basic facts. Where is the video of Charlie appointing you as CEO weeks before his death?"

Candace argued the Secret Service wouldn't have allowed Vance to follow through with the event if there was "a viable threat."

She slammed Erika's "s*** Public Relations team" as the actual threat, saying they "operate under the delusion that they are smarter than the public."

To Candace's point ... there were tons of empty seats at the TPUSA tour stop.