J. Edgar Hoover gave out souvenir fingerprint cards. His successors were more discreet, mindful of the cult of personality that had developed around the FBI’s first director. They generally avoided giving out branded swag.
Then came Kash Patel.
President Trump’s FBI director has a great deal of affection for merchandise. Beanies. T-shirts. Hoodies. Trucker caps. Playing cards. A “Fight with Kash” Punisher scarf. All available for sale on a website he co-founded — still operating nearly 15 months into his term.
But the merchandise is not the problem. The bourbon is.
Last month, reports emerged 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.) Now, new details have surfaced about Patel’s personalized, branded bourbon stash — and the questions it raises about ethics, judgment, and the culture of the bureau he now leads.
The question is no longer whether Patel drinks. It is whether the FBI director is using his position to give away expensive, self-branded liquor — and who is paying for it.
The Personalized Bourbon
The bottles bear the imprint of Woodford Reserve, a Kentucky distillery, and are engraved with the words “Kash Patel FBI Director,” as well as a rendering of an FBI shield. Surrounding the shield is a band of text featuring Patel’s director title and the favored spelling of his first name: Ka$h. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9 — presumably a reference to Patel’s place in the history of FBI directors. In some cases, the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel’s signature.
One such bottle popped up on an online auction site shortly after the initial report appeared. The Atlantic later purchased it. The person who sold the bottle said it was a gift from Patel at an event in Las Vegas.
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. Most of them spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
On Official Business
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. (A photograph of the bottle was reviewed.)
On the same trip, Patel was filmed drinking beer with the gold-medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team — behavior that officials have said did not sit well with the teetotaling president. Patel defended himself at the time, saying he was just celebrating with his “friends” on the hockey team.
Patel’s use of DOJ aircraft to transport cases of alcohol has been the subject of discussion among FBI staff.
The FBI did not dispute that Patel gives out bottles of whiskey inscribed with his name. In response to detailed questions, a spokesperson portrayed the gifts as routine within the FBI and the broader government. “The 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.”
The spokesperson declined to clarify which ethical rules Patel was following when the bottles were engraved with Patel’s 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 a former longtime senior FBI official was asked whether he had ever seen personally branded liquor bottles distributed by a previous FBI director, he burst out laughing.
Unheard-Of Conduct
Several current and former FBI employees, including multiple senior leaders, told reporters 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 said they were concerned by Patel’s 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’s leadership, one former agent said. “It is so weird and uncomfortable,” this person said.
Another former agent described the bottles as “demoralizing,” 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 “you aren’t on board on receiving it enthusiastically, you are getting polygraphed for loyalty.” The fear of retribution has deterred some staff from reporting their concerns to supervisors or through channels reserved for whistleblowers.
The Missing Bottle Incident
In March, Patel and his team brought at least one case of bourbon to the FBI’s training facility in Quantico, Virginia, for a “training seminar,” 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 “lose his mind,” according to clients of Kurt Siuzdak, a retired agent who has assisted FBI agents with legal issues.
Siuzdak told reporters that multiple agents contacted him for legal guidance after Patel began threatening to polygraph and prosecute his staff over the missing bottle. “It turned into a shitshow,” Siuzdak said. Other attorneys said they received similar calls from FBI employees regarding concerns about Patel’s bottles.
Siuzdak and the other attorneys said their clients find themselves in a difficult situation. FBI agents “have a duty to disclose wrongdoing,” Siuzdak said. But if you make allegations against Patel, “you’re screwed.”
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: “I tell people to run from him.”
A Pattern of Self-Promotion
Patel’s 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 reported last year.
His enthusiasm for self-branded merchandise is also well documented. “He is known as being very merch forward,” one DOJ employee said. 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 Punisher.
In July, Patel’s merchandise caused an international diplomatic incident. He gave 3-D-printed replica revolvers to two New Zealand cabinet members, as well as multiple members of the country’s police and intelligence services. The New Zealand security officials had to destroy the items because they were illegal under local law.
A spokesperson for Patel said that “the gifted item was a 3D-printed replica of a firearm, and it was specially designed to be incapable of firing ammunition.”
The Bottom Line
FBI Director Kash Patel has been giving out personalized, branded bottles of Woodford Reserve bourbon — engraved with “Ka$h Patel FBI Director” and an FBI shield — to FBI staff and civilians he encounters on official business, according to eight current and former FBI and DOJ employees. He and his team have transported the whiskey using a DOJ plane, including during a trip to Milan. At least one bottle went missing at the FBI’s Quantico training facility, prompting Patel to threaten polygraphs and prosecution of his staff, according to multiple attorneys.
The FBI says the bottles are part of a tradition “that started well over a decade ago” and that Patel follows all ethical guidelines. Former longtime FBI officials say they have never seen anything like it. Current and former agents describe the conduct as “weird,” “uncomfortable,” and “demoralizing” — suggesting one set of standards for the director and another for the rest of the bureau.
The FBI has traditionally had a zero-tolerance approach to alcohol misuse. Under Patel’s leadership, that standard appears to be bending. And as one retired agent put it: “When you degrade the office like that, you degrade the impact.”
