One of J. Edgar Hoover\u2019s greatest reforms at the FBI was his embrace of fingerprinting. During the 1930s, visitors to the FBI offices in Washington, D.C., received souvenir fingerprint cards featuring his name. The men who succeeded him as FBI director were more discreet and judicious, mindful of the cult of personality that had developed around Hoover. They generally avoided giving out branded swag.<\/p>\n
But then came Kash Patel.<\/p>\n
President Trump\u2019s FBI director has a great deal of affection for swag. Merchandise for sale on a website he co-founded<\/a>\u2014still operating, nearly 15 months into his term\u2014includes beanies ($35), T-shirts ($35), orange camo hoodies ($65), trucker caps ($25), \u201cgovernment gangsters\u201d playing cards (on sale for $10), and a Fight With Kash<\/span> Punisher scarf ($25).<\/p>\n One thing not for sale is liquor, because liquor is something Patel gives away for free.<\/p>\n Last month, I reported<\/a> that FBI personnel were alarmed by what they said was erratic behavior and excessive drinking by Patel. (The FBI director has denied the allegations and filed a defamation suit against The Atlantic<\/em> and me.)<\/p>\n After my story appeared, I heard from people in Patel\u2019s orbit and people he has met at public functions, who told me that it is not unusual for him to travel with a supply of personalized branded bourbon. The bottles bear the imprint of the Kentucky distillery Woodford Reserve, and are engraved with the words \u201cKash Patel FBI Director<\/span>,\u201d as well as a rendering of an FBI shield. Surrounding the shield is a band of text featuring Patel\u2019s director title and his favored spelling of his first name: Ka$h<\/span>. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9, presumably a reference to Patel\u2019s place in the history of FBI directors. In some cases, the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel\u2019s signature, with \u201c#9\u201d there as well. One such bottle popped up on an online auction site shortly after my story appeared, and The Atlantic <\/em>later purchased it. (The person who sold it to us did not want to be named, but said that the bottle was a gift from Patel at an event in Las Vegas.)<\/p>\n The Atlantic<\/p>\n Patel\u2019s signature and \u201c#9\u201d appears on the bottle obtained by The Atlantic<\/em>. The \u201c#9\u201d is presumably a reference to his place in the history of FBI directors.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n Patel has given out bottles of his personalized whiskey to FBI staff as well as civilians he encounters in his duties, according to eight people, including current and former FBI and Department of Justice employees and others who are familiar with Patel\u2019s distribution of the bottles. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.<\/p>\n Patel has distributed his self-branded bottles while on official business, including during at least one FBI event. He and his team have transported the whiskey using a DOJ plane, including when he went to Milan during the Olympics in February. One of the bottles was left behind in a locker room, according to a person who was there. (I reviewed a photograph of the bottle.) On the same trip, Patel was filmed drinking beer with the gold-medal-winning U.S. men\u2019s hockey team\u2014behavior that officials have said<\/a> did not sit well with the teetotaling president. Patel defended himself at the time, saying he was just celebrating with his \u201cfriends\u201d<\/a> on the hockey team. Patel\u2019s use of DOJ aircraft to transport cases of alcohol has been the subject of discussion among FBI staff.<\/p>\n The FBI did not dispute that Patel gives out bottles of whiskey inscribed with his name, but in response to a detailed list of questions, a spokesperson portrayed the gifts as routine within the FBI and the broader government. He added that \u201cthe bottles in question are part of a tradition in the FBI that started well over a decade ago, long before Director Patel arrived. Senior Bureau officials have long exchanged commemorative items in formal gift settings consistent with ethics rules. Director Patel has followed all applicable ethical guidelines and pays for any personal gift himself.\u201d<\/p>\n The spokesperson declined to clarify which ethical rules Patel was following, when the bottles were engraved with Patel\u2019s name, or whether any bottles had actually been reimbursed as personal gifts. The FBI also declined to provide images of bottles bearing the names of past directors. When I reached a former longtime senior FBI official to ask whether he\u2019d ever seen personally branded liquor bottles distributed by a previous FBI director, he burst out laughing.<\/p>\n Listen: The Kash Patel fallout<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n Several current and former FBI employees, including multiple senior leaders, told me that the director regularly handing out his own personally branded bourbon, including to civilians outside the bureau, was unheard-of. Current and former agents also told me they were concerned by Patel\u2019s gifts of personalized bourbon. The FBI has traditionally had a zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized use of alcohol on the job and for its misuse while off duty. But that standard is bending under Patel\u2019s leadership, one former agent told me. \u201cIt is so weird and uncomfortable,\u201d this person said. Another former agent described the bottles as \u201cdemoralizing,\u201d because they suggest one set of standards for the director and another for the rest of the bureau. This person said he believes that many agents would worry that if the director offers you a bottle, and \u201cyou aren\u2019t on board on receiving it enthusiastically, you are getting polygraphed for loyalty.\u201d The fear of retribution has deterred some staff from reporting their concerns to supervisors or through channels reserved for whistleblowers.<\/p>\n In March, Patel and his team brought at least one case of bourbon to the FBI\u2019s training facility in Quantico, Virginia, for a \u201ctraining seminar,\u201d where Ultimate Fighting Championship athletes provided mixed-martial-arts instruction to aspiring FBI agents and senior staff. At one point at least one bottle went missing, which caused the director to \u201close his mind,\u201d according to clients of Kurt Siuzdak, a retired agent who has assisted FBI agents, including whistleblowers, with legal issues. Siuzdak told me that multiple agents contacted him for legal guidance after Patel began threatening to polygraph and prosecute his staff over the missing bottle. \u201cIt turned into a shitshow,\u201d Siuzdak said. Other attorneys told me they received similar calls from FBI employees regarding concerns about Patel\u2019s bottles.<\/p>\n Siuzdak and the other attorneys said their clients find themselves in a difficult situation. FBI agents \u201chave a duty to disclose wrongdoing,\u201d Siuzdak said. But if you make allegations against Patel, \u201cyou\u2019re screwed.\u201d Siuzdak said agents are particularly troubled about reputational damage from proximity to conduct that is not clearly within FBI rules and norms, which could be used to challenge their professional credibility. \u201cStreet agents know that integrity is the most important thing for their jobs,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout integrity, you can\u2019t testify.\u201d<\/p>\n Siuzdak, whose career spanned more than 20 years in the FBI as well as time in the military, has given unusual advice to current FBI employees who seek his counsel: \u201cI tell people to run from him.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Woodford Reserve said she did not have information about who had ordered the bottles or when. \u201cConsumers who purchase Woodford Reserve occasionally have images and messages engraved on the bottle,\u201d Elizabeth Conway, the director of external communications for the distillery\u2019s parent company, told me. \u201cThese engravings occur after <\/em>the point of purchase.\u201d<\/p>\n Patel\u2019s affection for bourbon is long-standing; during the first Trump administration, he and his colleagues at the National Security Council kept a barrel of it on hand to celebrate successful hostage negotiations and rescues, The New Yorker<\/em><\/a> reported last year. (Patel served as the council\u2019s senior director for counterterrorism at the time.)<\/p>\n Patel\u2019s enthusiasm for self-branded merchandise is also well documented. \u201cHe is known as being very merch forward,\u201d one DOJ employee told me. Even before he was confirmed as FBI director, Patel sent out Ka$h-branded merch boxes that included hats, socks, and other items depicting the comic-book character the Punisher, one person who received such a box told me. As my colleague Elaina Plott Calabro reported<\/a> in 2024, before Patel became FBI director, he previously sold \u201cJustice for All\u201d #J6PC<\/span> tees in honor of those arrested for their actions on January 6, 2021. (That item is no longer available from the Kash Foundation, which was founded by Patel but is now, according to its website, \u201can independent nonprofit, not endorsed by, associated with, or influenced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, or any government agency.\u201d)<\/p>\n Ebay; CSPAN; William Turton \/ X; Health Ranger Report<\/em><\/p>\n From top left: <\/em>A screenshot of a Kash Patel challenge coin; Patel wearing one of his scarves; Kash Patel\u2013branded shoes; Patel wearing his own merchandise on the Health Ranger Report<\/em> podcast; another Patel challenge coin. Bottom right:<\/em> A photo taken in an Olympic locker room and provided to The Atlantic<\/em> shows another personalized Kash Patel bottle of bourbon.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n In a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed in September, former Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI\u2019s Washington Field Office Steven Jensen described an interaction in Patel\u2019s conference room in which the director presented him with an abnormally large challenge coin\u2014a memento often given out by leaders in law-enforcement and military organizations. The coin was inscribed Director <\/span>at the top and Ka$h Patel<\/span> at the bottom.<\/p>\n \u201cJensen then noticed a collection of whiskey bottles and cigars on Patel\u2019s desk,\u201d the complaint states. According to the complaint, \u201cPatel explained that he used to produce his own brand of cigars, but they are not in production anymore.\u201d Jensen, who oversaw parts of the investigation into the pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, was fired in August. (The U.S. government has moved to dismiss the case, and the lawsuit is pending.) Jensen\u2019s lawyer, Margaret Donovan, told me in a statement that \u201cthere are line agents out there spending their nights and weekends trying to finish warrants, write reports, plan arrests. Yet the FBI Director apparently has the time to design logos, go to hockey games, sit for multi-hour podcast interviews. This is one of the most serious jobs in the country, not a vehicle for self-promotion and branding.\u201d<\/p>\n A month before Jensen\u2019s firing, Patel\u2019s merchandise caused an international diplomatic incident. In July, Patel gave 3-D-printed replica revolvers to two New Zealand cabinet members, as well as multiple members of the country\u2019s police and intelligence services, the Associated Press reported<\/a>. The New Zealand security officials had to destroy the items because they were illegal under local law, according to the AP. A spokesperson for Patel said in a statement to the AP that \u201cthe gifted item was a 3D-printed replica of a firearm, and it was specially designed to be incapable of firing ammunition.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"patel_new.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/thumbor\/Hb3vABQOpXf4dc-eOx39bVoZ-zE=\/0x0:2000x1362\/928x632\/media\/img\/posts\/2026\/05\/patel_new-1\/original.jpg\")
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