Ted Lieu

Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu urged the Trump administration to remove FBI Director Kash Patel from his position due to what Lieu described as an alleged substance abuse issue.

Lieu cited recent reports that accused Patel of excessive drinking, including when working, among other allegations.

"Based on public reporting, it appears Kash Patel is a raging alcoholic. There is also videotape of him flying to [the] Olympics on taxpayers’ dime and partying and drinking,” Lieu said during a news conference on Tuesday.

“There's also an article from New York Times that alleges that Kash Patel had his FBI agents query FBI databases to go after a New York Times reporter who wrote an unflattering story about how Patel was using taxpayers’ money to fly his girlfriend around on private jets. So, we can't trust Kash Patel. And if the administration removed Kash Patel, it will make FISA reauthorization, I believe, a much easier thing to do.”

In wake of the reports, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent Patel a 5-page letter on April 21, demanding that the FBI director complete and share the results of an alcohol disorders test. Lawmakers asked Patel to submit his results from the "Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test" by Tuesday.

"A damning and explosive report recently revealed that the men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are privately -- and at times publicly -- alarmed by your 'episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences,'" lawmakers noted in the letter. "There are numerous accounts that you consume alcohol to the point of illness, direct profanity-laced outbursts at support staff, and pass out drunk behind locked doors in episodes making you so unreachable that agents have had to fetch SWAT-level breaching equipment to awaken you."

While it wasn't immediately clear if Patel completed the request, he has denied the allegations. Last week, Patel said he has "never been intoxicated on the job."

"I can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia, and as when they get louder, it just means I’m doing my job," Patel previously said during a joint press conference with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Patel also filed a $250 million lawsuit against "The Atlantic" after the media outlet published a report claiming that his colleagues said they are worried he has a substance abuse issue.

Citing more than two dozen anonymous sources, Staff Writer Sarah Fitzpatrick wrote that Patel "alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences."

"I stand by every word of this reporting," Fitzpatrick recently told MS Now.

Aside from criticizing Patel, Lieu said President Donald Trump is more concerned about building "a giant arch" in D.C., as well as constructing a White House ballroom, as opposed to improving the economy and ending the war with Iran.

“Gas prices are continuing to be very, very high. And what is Donald Trump focused on? Building a giant arch in Washington, D.C. and building a private ballroom with taxpayers’ dollars at $40 million for a ballroom that 99% of Americans will never be able to access,” Lieu said. “We urge Republicans and Donald Trump to focus on American people instead.