Democrats demand FBI director, Kash Patel, take alcohol abuse test

Amid growing congressional scrutiny of his conduct, Patel has claimed he has ‘never been intoxicated on the job’

• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/apr/22/virginia-congressional-map-vote-redistricting-donald-trump-republicans-democrats-us-latest-news-updates">US politics live – latest updates

House judiciary Democrats have launched a formal inquiry into https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/fbi">FBI director, Kash Patel’s alleged drinking habits, demanding he complete a standardized alcohol abuse assessment and submit the results to Congress.

In a https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-04-21-raskin-et-al-to-patel-fbi-re-conduct.pdf">letter sent on Tuesday, led by Jamie Raskin, a Maryland representative, Democrats on the committee called on Patel to take the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Audit) – a 10-question World Health Organization screening tool used to identify harmful patterns of drinking – along with a sworn statement attesting to his answers.

Lawmakers also requested all security clearance questionnaires Patel has completed since taking the role.