Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee mocked FBI Director Kash Patel after a new report came out saying the Trump administration official occasionally travels with a “personalized branded bourbon” engraved with his name and title.

“The Kash Patel bourbon: strong notes of insecurity, narcissism, incompetence and alcohol-fueled national security risk,” the lawmakers wrote in a snarky social media post on Thursday. “Pairs well with taxpayer-funded getaways and the occasional SWAT-assisted wake-up call.”

The lawmakers added a “warning” that this liquor “impairs judgment, undermines critical FBI decisions and causes paranoia.”

Patel has reportedly gifted liquor bottles to FBI staff and civilians, according to reporting from The Atlantic.

Ben Williamson, the assistant director of the FBI’s public affairs office, called the Atlantic report “false and misleading” in a statement to The Hill on Thursday.

“The bottles in question are part of a common practice in the FBI that started well over a decade ago, long before Director Patel arrived,” Williamson said. “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 a personal gift himself.”

Retired FBI agent Kurt Siuzdak told The Atlantic’s Sarah Fitzpatrick that several current agents contacted him in March after Patel brought some of the bourbon to the FBI’s training facility. The agents allegedly told Siuzdak the FBI director began to “lose his mind” after at least one of the bottles went missing and that he began threatening to prosecute and polygraph his staff over the incident.

Siuzdak told the outlet that he advises FBI agents “to run from” Patel.

A senior FBI official told The Hill on Thursday that the FBI-branded bottles in question were created by the bureau before Patel arrived. The official noted that it is common for senior government officials, including at the FBI, to engage in formal gift exchanges.

In the event that Patel gave a bottle as a personal gift, he reimbursed the bureau for the cost, the official told The Hill. The official said that Patel did not consume the alcohol and that the director followed “all applicable ethical guidelines,” including at the March training event.

This followed earlier reporting from Fitzpatrick last month that Patel was difficult to reach after nights of excessive drinking and alarmed his colleagues with erratic behavior.

The FBI director dismissed these earlier allegations in a social media post threatening legal action against the outlet last month.

“See you and your entire entourage of false reporting in court… But do keep at it with the fake news, actual malice standard is now what some would call a legal lay up,” Patel wrote in the post.

Patel then sued the magazine for $250 million on grounds of defamation.

MS NOW reported on Wednesday that the FBI has launched an investigation into Fitzpatrick in the wake of the initial report.

“If confirmed to be true, an FBI criminal leak investigation targeting our reporter would represent an outrageous attack on the free press and the First Amendment itself,” said Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, in a statement on Wednesday.

“We will defend The Atlantic and its staff vigorously; we will not be intimidated by illegitimate investigations or other acts of politically motivated retaliation; we will continue to cover the FBI professionally, fairly, and thoroughly; and we will continue to practice journalism in the public interest,” he continued.

Updated at 5:45 p.m. EDT

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