FBI DirectorKash 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.
Melania Trump is running a honeypot operation out of the White House ... as in, she's adding a couple new bee colonies to bump up honey production.
The First Lady just announced an expansion of the White House honey program -- yes, that's a thing -- with a newly installed, fully functioning beehive on the South Lawn.
Melania's hive is a miniature version of the White House ... it's crafted by a local artisan and it's home to a pair of bee colonies. The White House says the new hives are expected to increase annual honey production at the White House by an estimated 30 pounds.
The FBI says it plans to dig into possible connections between the disappearances and/or deaths of at least 10 scientists and government workers over the last few years ... but their family members say it's all a bunch of baloney.
The House Oversight Committee announced Monday they're probing any possible connections between 10 cases dating back to 2023 ... but family members of Melissa Casias, Carl Grillmair, Michael Hicks and Jason Thomas all say there's no way they're linked -- and some have proof.
Melissa was an administrative assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico who vanished in June 2025. A family member, Paul, tells TMZ ... he believes Melissa wanted to go MIA and "does not want to be found."
Grindr's White House Correspondents' Dinner weekend bash in Washington, D.C. is drawing interest from the top reaches of government ... including President Donald Trump's administration!
Joe Hack -- the dating app's head of global government affairs -- joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday to talk about the company's soirée Friday night in the nation's capital ahead of Saturday night's WHCD.
Hack says the party can accommodate up to 500 ... and it's looking like it'll be packed to the gills -- with staffers on both sides of the political divide, journalists and more looking to hook up with organizers and score an invite.
The American people aren't the only ones who think Congress is doing a terrible job ... turns out members of Congress are also believers.
Rep. Jim Himes didn't argue with Charlie, who said straight up ... school children get less time off than members of Congress. Members have just left for a 4-day weekend and will have another week off at the beginning of May -- the same time DHS will run out of money to pay federal workers. And remember, they just came off a 2-week Easter break.
The congressman from Connecticut said Congress is getting ZERO accomplished, so it was kinda depressing to hear him, except for the Australian joke he road-tested on our favorite Aussie.
Ditto for Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, who says gutlessness is a tradition in Congress, which he finds "repulsive." Burchett says if your congressman or congresswoman likes the way D.C. is working, then he's all for the TMZ battle cry ... Out With Their Asses!!!
Congress may be throwing elbows on Capitol Hill ... but once the suits come off, some lawmakers are apparently more focused on jump shots than cheap shots!
Our TMZ DC crew caught up with Rep. Shomari Figures and a few other congressmen, including Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick, in the aftermath of the Congressional Basketball Game Tuesday night ... where Democrats and Republicans hit the court together in a rare display of bipartisan teamwork.
Check out the clip ... Figures tells us the game came down to the wire and he gave props to fellow Representatives Suhas Subramanyam and Blake Moorefor balling out.
But when we asked what it’s like sharing the court with members of the opposing party amid all the political chaos in D.C. ... the Alabama Democrat pushed back on the idea that lawmakers are constantly at each other's throats.
Rep. Troy Downing's trying to figure out if Grindr's inaugural event before the White House Correspondents' Dinner is all about meaty sausages. Yes, we mean that literally.
Our TMZ DC crew caught up with the Congressman from Montana who is clearly not up to date on dating apps, because we asked him for his thoughts on this weekend's party organized by the popular gay dating platform ... and, he had no clue what we were talking about.
Rep.Troy Nehls probably has strong views on Trump's Cuba threats, but those views may be rooted more in cigars than politics.
We got the Congressman from Houston out on Capitol Hill Wednesday, and asked the burning question ... does he snuff the cigar when it hits the House floor?
Andy Cohenhad some surprisingly nice things to say about Spencer Pratt’s mayoral campaign -- but the second Joe Rogan got brought up, the conversation went completely off the rails.
During Tuesday's episode of "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," Kristin Cavallaritold Andy she initially thought Spencer’s run for Los Angeles mayor was a joke ... but now she says she truly thinks he could actually pull it off.
She pointed to growing support around him and casually mentioned that Rogan had already endorsed him last week on his podcast ... saying he’d vote for him if he lived in L.A.
Figliuzzi -- the former assistant director for Counterintelligence at the FBI -- had quipped on the MS NOW show "Morning Joe" last year that the FBI director had been "visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor" of FBI HQ in D.C. ... but U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr. wasn’t buying it as fact.
Instead, he ruled Tuesday the remark was "rhetorical hyperbole" ... meaning no reasonable person would take it literally.
Kash Patel is lashing out at what he calls the "fake news mafia" after a report alleged he has an alcohol abuse problem.
The FBI director took some pointed shots at the media Tuesday after filing a $250 million defamation lawsuit on Monday following an unflattering article about him in The Atlantic magazine.
Patel denied reports he shows up to work drunk or sometimes doesn't show up at all ... claiming he is working more days than his predecessors.
President Trump's FBI director also warned the media they would be sued too if they lie about him ... and he said the hit piece is proof he's doing a good job.
President Donald Trump's claim he would've speedrun to victory in the Vietnam War doesn't add up ... according to a congressman and veteran, who says the Iran War proves it.
Our TMZ DC Crew talked to Representative Chris Deluzio on Tuesday after he'd spoken at a press conference on Veterans Affairs issues ... which included concerns the Trump Administration is trying to privatize the V.A.
Given Deluzio's work with veterans and his own service record -- he went to the Naval Academy and served in the Navy from 2006 to 2012 -- we had to ask him about Trump's assertion he "would have won Vietnam very quickly."
Rep. Jack Bergman is telling TMZ DC it's NOT his job to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end the record-breaking government shutdown ... but Charliebegs to differ.
Our fearless staffer got the Congressman from Michigan walking back to Capitol Hill Tuesday and confronted him about Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin saying DHS will soon run out of money.
Rep. Bergman quickly passes the buck and says funding DHS is not in his domain ... but Charlie calls BS, saying it's Congress' job to end the never-ending shutdown.
1:00 PM PST -- Frederick Alfred Jr. has been dropped by the Chainsaw Caucus just weeks after their endorsement. They tell TMZ ... "We take child safety and parental responsibility extremely seriously, and these allegations are inconsistent with the standards we expect from candidates we support. We have no further comment at this time."
A Republican running for a state senate seat in Colorado was arrested in Florida ... after cops say his daughter started drowning in a pool when he left his kids unattended while going to the bar for some booze.
Frederick Alfred Jr. was arrested Monday in Key West on two counts of felony child neglect without great harm.
According to the police report, obtained by TMZ, cops say his 4-year-old daughter began drowning in the pool, became unconscious, started foaming at the mouth, and eventually needed CPR from someone at the pool.
Tucker Carlson says he feels partly responsible for President Donald Trump securing a second term in the Oval Office ... and, he's really sorry about it.
The conservative commentator issued a mea cupla during an episode of "The Tucker Carlson Show" released Monday while chatting with his younger brother, Buckley, who worked as a speechwriter for POTUS.
Carlson said he and Buckley are "implicated" in making Trump president again ... and, he says it's not enough to simply say they changed their minds ... because he feels they, and millions of others, are the reason for the state of affairs.
Rep. Morgan McGarvey is quickly learning TMZ DC is here to shake things up on Capitol Hill ... even the Congressional Baseball Game is in our sights!!!
We got the Congressman from Kentucky on his way to practice for the Congressional big game, and Jacobtold him the charity event needs some serious stakes.
Our suggestion ... the game's MVP gets free rein to pass a bill. As far as we're concerned, bragging rights in Washington D.C. just ain't cutting it nowadays.
