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Biden-Merkel Summit Will Be a Failure Unless Pres. Biden Convinces Merkel to Stop Blocking Emergency COVID WTO Waiver to Save Millions of Lives
Nationwide Protests at German Consulates as Activists Demand Biden Get German Chancellor Merkel to Drop Her Deadly Opposition to the COVID TRIPS Waiver
WASHINGTON
WHAT: International faith, health, consumer and development leaders joined by member of U.S. Congress to urge German Chancellor Angela Merkel to end Germany blockade of an emergency waiver of WTO intellectual property barriers and call on Pres. Biden to show leadership by persuading her to do so, for the sake of millions of people's lives and livelihoods. German has positioned the European Union to block130-plus other nations at the WTO, including the United States, that consider the waiver key to boosting COVID vaccine production.
Speakers Include:
- Charlie Chilufya, Director of Justice and Ecology at Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar
- Marian Lieser, Oxfam Germany Executive Director
- Joia Mukherjee, Partners In Health Medical Director
- Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
- Moderator: Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
- More speakers to be confirmed
WHEN: Wednesday, July 14 at 10 a.m. ET
WHERE: RSVP for the online event and get updates as speakers are confirmed.
For more information, please contact Matthew Groch at mgroch@citizen.org.
BACKGROUND: WASHINGTON, D.C. - Dozens of U.S. protests and public events, including a die-in near the White House and protests at German consulates nationwide, are planned for Chancellor Angela Merkel's U.S. visit on July 15 as Germany blocks an emergency WTO waiver to facilitate COVID-19 vaccines and treatments that would save millions of lives.
As the Delta variant rages worldwide and Tokyo locks down pre-Olympics, COVID-19 and German TRIPS waiver opposition threatens to overshadow what Chancellor Merkel hoped would be a valedictory visit.
The Biden administration declared support of the waiver in May and many nations followed their lead, however WTO consensus rules means German opposition is now blocking 130+ nations that view a waiver as key to boosting production of vaccines and other medical supplies. COVID-19 is raging through the many nations with limited vaccine access. Poor nations' access may lag until 2024, destroying lives and livelihoods and increasing chances a vaccine-resistant variant develops.
Merkel's singular role as the obstacle has made the summit a critical test of whether President Joe Biden can deliver on his goal of a TRIPS waiver unlocking global vaccine and treatment access - or his initiative to save tens of millions of live could fail despite his historic support, as well as Merkel's chance to cement her legacy as a humanitarian, not a Big Pharma shill.
The U.S. and Germany alone produce approved mRNA vaccines. If Merkel gets a high-profile White House photo op and victory lap without Biden delivering progress on the TRIPS waiver, a major administration agenda item will be dealt a punishing blow. As Be a Hero founder Ady Barkan recently explained in a video going viral: "President Biden has shown so much leadership. Now we need him to bring Chancellor Merkel along with him."
Below is a preview of protests and events leading up to Merkel's visit. Check here for updates and to view events in calendar layout.
White House Photo Op: Germany--Stop Blocking Global COVID Vaccines! Banner Drop
WHAT: Protesters will float 20' by 10' banner on helium lifts with White House as backdrop
WHEN: Tuesday, July 13 at 9 a.m. ET
WHERE: Corner of Constitution and 16th Street NW, Washington D.C.
For more information, please contact Arthur Stamoulis at arthur@citizenstrade.org
Press Conference: Global Leaders Urge Merkel/Biden to Solve TRIPS Waiver Block
WHAT: Leaders of public health, and other organizations will urge Chancellor Merkel to end her waiver blockade and call on Pres. Biden to show leadership by persuading her to do so, for the sake of millions of people's lives and livelihoods.
WHEN: Wednesday, July 14 at 10 a.m. ET
WHERE: RSVP for the online event and get updates as speakers are confirmed.
Speakers Include:
- Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
- Marian Lieser, Oxfam Germany Executive Director
- Joia Mukherjee, Partners In Health Medical Director
- Charlie Chilufya, Director of Justice and Ecology at Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar
- Moderator: Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
- More speakers to be confirmed
For more information, please contact Matthew Groch at mgroch@citizen.org
Mass Protest at German Permanent Mission to UN in New York City
WHAT: Protest at German UN Mission/Consulate to protest Germany TRIPS waiver blockage
WHEN: Wednesday, July 14 at 10 a.m. ET
WHERE: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, E. 47th Street (between 1st & 2nd Ave.), New York Marching from there to the German Consulate and then to Pfizer Corporation offices.
For more information, please contact please contact Ben Levenson at b.levenson@peoplesaction.org
Protest: Die-in at White House During Merkel's Visit (Featuring Giant Merkel Puppet)
WHAT: On the day of Merkel's White House visit, protesters will display body bags representing the global number of COVID-19 deaths since the TRIPS waiver was first proposed in October 2020. An oversized Merkel puppet will bear witness to the sad reality that Delay=Death.
WHEN: Thursday, July 15 at 9 a.m. ET
WHERE: Lafayette Square (H St and Black Lives Matter Plaza NW)
For more information, please contact Arthur Stamoulis at arthur@citizenstrade.org
Vigils at German Consulates Across the Country
WHAT: Waiver advocates will hold vigils outside German consulates, remembering those who have died of COVID-19 and calling for the global access to vaccines and treatments that's needed to help save millions of lives and end the pandemic. Several have already been held, and more are being scheduled.
Confirmed vigils are below, all times local:
CALIFORNIA
Wednesday, July 14 * 10:00 a.m.
Outside the German Consulate
6222 Wilshire Boulevard * Los Angeles, CA
For more information, please contact Will Wiltschko at will@citizenstrade.org
RSVP for Los Angeles Event Online Here
Thursday, July 15 * 6:00 p.m.
Outside the German Consulate
1960 Jackson Street * San Francisco, CA
For more information, please contact Will Wiltschko at will@citizenstrade.org
RSVP for San Francisco Event Online Here
Friday, July 16 * 10:30 a.m.
Outside the Honorary German Consulate (Emerald Center)
1620 5th Ave * San Diego, CA
For more information, please contact Will Wiltschko at will@citizenstrade.org
RSVP for San Diego Event Online Here
COLORADO
Wednesday, July 14 * 11:00 a.m.
Outside the Honorary German Consulate
4100 E Mississippi Avenue * Denver, CO
For more information, please contact Andi Petrovic at apetrovic@citizen.org
RSVP for Denver Event Online Here
Thursday, July 15 * 12:30 p.m.
Across from Honorary German Consulate (Lobsterman Park)
1 Temple Street * Portland, ME
For more information, please contact Martha Speiss at mspiess@myfairpoint.net
RSVP for Portland Event Online Here
MASSACHUSETTS
Monday, July 12 * 12:00 p.m.
Copley Square (Corner of Boylston & Darmouth Streets)
560 Boylston St * Boston, MA
For more information, please contact Andi Petrovic at apetrovic@citizen.org
RSVP for Boston Event Online Here
NEW YORK
Wednesday, July 14 * 10:00 a.m.
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
47th Street (between 1st & 2nd Ave) * New York, NY
For more information, please contact please contact Ben Levenson at b.levenson@peoplesaction.org
RSVP for the New York Event Online Here
Thursday, July 15 * 5:00 p.m.
Outside the Honorary German Consulate
120 West Tupper Street * Buffalo, NY
For more information, please contact George Kimball at george@citizenstrade.org
RSVP for Buffalo Event Online Here
OHIO
Wednesday, July 14 * 12:00 p.m.
Outside the Honorary German Consulate (One Cleveland Center)
1375 E. Ninth Street * Cleveland, OH
For more information, please contact Andi Petrovic at apetrovic@citizen.org
RSVP for the Cleveland Event Online Here
OREGON
Wednesday, July 14 * 6:00 p.m.
Outside Honorary German Consulate
3900 SW Murray Blvd * Beaverton, OR
For more information, please contact Hillary Haden at hillary@washingtonfairtrade.org
RSVP for Beaverton Event Online Here
Friday, July 9 * 11:00am
Car Caravan Around German Consulate
Meeting at 17198 Knoll Trail Road * Dallas, TX
For more information, please contact Bob Cash at bobcash@citizenstrade.org
RSVP for Dallas Event Online Here
Tuesday, July 13 * 12:00 p.m.
Outside the Honorary German Consulate
36 State St * Salt Lake City, UT
For more information, please contact Andi Petrovic at apetrovic@citizen.org
RSVP for Salt Lake Event Online Here
Thursday, July 15 * 10:30 a.m.
Outside the Honorary German Consulate (Town Point Park and Nauticus)
1 Waterside Drive * Norfolk, VA
For more information, please contact Ryan Harvey at rharvey@citizen.org
RSVP for Norfolk Event Online Here
WASHINGTON
Sunday, July 12 * 1:00 p.m.
The German House
613 9th Ave * Seattle, WA
For more information, please contact Hillary Haden at hillary@washingtonfairtrade.org
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
(202) 588-1000LATEST NEWS
Trump Admin Slammed for Yet Another Move to 'Help Corporate Polluters' Exploit Alaska
One critic called the transfer of 1.4 million acres a "massive giveaway to out-of-state corporations that don't want to be burdened by the federal protections that safeguard our lands, waters, wildlife, and communities."
May 06, 2026
Defenders of the planet took aim at President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday for transferring approximately 1.4 million acres of public lands along the Dalton Utility Corridor from the US Bureau of Land Management to the state of Alaska.
"This corridor encompasses some of Alaska’s most critical transportation and energy assets, including portions of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System corridor, the Dalton Highway, and proposed routes for the Ambler Road and Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects," the US Department of the Interior noted in a statement, framing the move as part of DOI's commitment to the Alaska Statehood Act, as well as orders issued by Trump and the agency's secretary, Doug Burgum.
As Burgum and Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy cheered the development on Wednesday, Andrea Feniger, director of the state's Sierra Club chapter, declared that "this is less a transfer to Alaskans than a massive giveaway to out-of-state corporations that don't want to be burdened by the federal protections that safeguard our lands, waters, wildlife, and communities."
"Gov. Dunleavy has repeatedly shown he is more interested in helping the Trump administration and fossil fuel executives exploit Alaska than standing up for the people who actually live here," Feniger said. "These companies will not be satisfied until every corner of our state is opened to industrial development and short-term profit, regardless of the permanent damage done to the wild places, subsistence traditions, and communities that make Alaska unique. Alaskans deserve leaders who will protect these lands for future generations, not politicians willing to hand them over to corporate polluters."
Bloomberg reported that "Alaska's acquisition along the highway north of Fairbanks is part of 2.1 million acres" that Burgum offered earlier this year, after revoking a pair of decades-old orders. In March, a coalition of environmental groups, including Trustees for Alaska, filed a federal lawsuit over the secretary "unlawfully removing federal protections."
While Alaska filed a motion to dismiss the case on Wednesday, Bridget Psarianos, senior staff attorney at Trustees for Alaska, told Bloomberg that the land transfer is illegal. She also said that "the interior secretary broke the law when removing federal protections for over 2 million acres of public lands in February without hearings in local communities, without a public comment period, and without addressing that decision's impacts on land, water, and subsistence users."
Other groups supporting that suit include the Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, National Parks Conservation Association, and Sierra Club, whose director of conservation, Dan Ritzman, condemned Wednesday's transfer.
"This action will only help corporate polluters transform Alaska into an industrial wasteland—destroying irreplaceable landscapes for the sake of expanding the portfolios of mining and oil and gas companies that will never have to live with the consequences of this destruction," Ritzman stressed. "This decision completely ignores the wishes of local communities and tribes that depend upon these untouched areas for their livelihoods, cultures, and regional identities."
"Alaska is home to some of the country's last true wild places, and projects like Alaska LNG and the Ambler Road threaten irreversible damage to these precious landscapes, the wildlife that depend on them, and the communities that have stewarded them for generations," he added. "These lands belong to all Americans, not corporate special interests looking to exploit them for short-term profit. We are fighting this in court and will continue opposing any other attempts to sacrifice Alaska's public lands for the benefit of polluters and extractive industries."
Rebecca Noblin, an Alaska senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, similarly told E&E News that "handing this incredible stretch of federal public lands over to the state puts the communities, fish, and wildlife who live there in danger."
"Alaska officials envision bulldozing the area for a private industrial mining road and the LNG pipeline boondoggle," Noblin said. "We're fighting this transfer of our federal public lands in court, and we'll keep standing up for Alaska's wild places."
Climate and conservation groups have also recently sounded the alarm about Interior's forthcoming fossil fuel lease sale for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's Coastal Plain, and warned—in the words of Kristen Monsell, the oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity—that that Trump's "ridiculously reckless" plan to dramatically expand offshore drilling, including near Alaska, "could cause thousands of new oil spills, threatening almost every US coast."
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Tennessee GOP Ripped for Rush to 'Shamelessly Capitalize' on Supreme Court Voting Rights Ruling
"You are deliberately trying to silence the voices of a community," said one Democratic Tennessee state senator. "You cannot call it anything but racism.”
May 06, 2026
Voting rights defenders in Tennessee on Wednesday condemned a racially rigged congressional map proposed by Republican state lawmakers in the wake of last week's US Supreme Court decision limiting challenges to discriminatory redistricting.
Tennessee Republicans unveiled a US House map that breaks Memphis—one of the nation's largest majority-Black cities—into three districts in a bid to make it likely for GOP candidates to flip the 9th Congressional District, which has been represented by Democrats for half a century.
"These maps have just been released that look like some coloring book from the Republican Party, without any clarity at a precinct level, of where these new districts are gonna be," state Rep. Justin Pearson (D-86) said Wednesday. Pearson—who is running to unseat incumbent Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen in the 9th District—drew national attention in 2023 when Republican legislators expelled him and Rep. Justin Jones (D-52) following their protest for tighter gun laws after the deadly Covenant School shooting in Nashville.
Tennessee Republicans just unveiled their post-VRA congressional gerrymander.It would eliminate the one majority-Black and solidly Democratic district by splitting Memphis 3 ways to install a 9-0 Republican majority.It also splits Nashville several ways to protect scandal-tarred Rep. Andy Ogles
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— Stephen Wolf (@stephenwolf.bsky.social) May 6, 2026 at 8:34 AM
"This whole process has been a sham," Pearson added. "It's been done in secrecy, behind closed doors, with backroom deals. This is just wrong. And everyone knows why this is happening. This is an attack on our Black majority district, this is an attack on our democracy."
US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) weighed in Wednesday on the proposed gerrymander, writing on X, "MAGA Republicans are taking a blowtorch to Black representation in the American South."
Jeffries said that President Donald Trump "and Supreme Court extremists are responsible for this carnage," vowing to "crush them at the ballot box in November" during midterm elections.
John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), said in a statement, “This proposal takes an already egregious gerrymander to an even greater extreme by carving up Memphis into three districts, connecting it to rural areas hundreds of miles away, stretching as far as middle Tennessee—communities with needs far different from those of Memphians."
Bisognano added that the GOP proposal "robs Black voters of the ability to elect a congressional candidate of their choice—reversing a right that Black Memphians fought for with blood, sweat, and tears."
Democratic state lawmakers, civil rights leaders, and concerned citizens rallied outside the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville Tuesday to protest the proposal as a two-day special legislative session on the issue began.
HAPPENING NOW… marching on the Capitol…. #NewJimCrow @GovBillLee
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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) May 5, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee called the special session just two days after the US Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais decision ordering the state to redraw its 2024 congressional map, which created a second majority-Black district to mitigate persistent barriers to equal representation.
Lee's move came a day after a phone call from Trump, who has urged him and other Republican governors to follow the lead of Texas, the first salvo fired in a redistricting war prompted by Republican fears of a midterm loss of one or both houses of Congress. Democrat-controlled California followed Texas' move, with other blue states including Virginia, Maryland, and Washington in various stages of enacting or considering redraws.
Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry subsequently suspended his state’s scheduled May 16 US House primary election, a move that drew rebuke from liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and legal challenges from Louisianans who already cast ballots in the contest.
The Louisiana v. Callais decision, which the court's 6-3 right-wing majority framed as limiting the role of race in redistricting, is now being used to defend maps where race still plays a decisive role, not only in Tennessee but also in other states that are moving to redraw their congressional maps to dilute Black voting power. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a rigged congressional map into law.
“The ink was barely dry on the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision to gut the Voting Rights Act before Tennessee Republicans rushed to be the first to shamelessly capitalize on it by proposing a gerrymander that systematically targets Black voters in Memphis... and ensures all of the state’s congressional districts are majority-white," Bisognano said.
Bold, blatant f*cking racism. They're gleeful about it.
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— catnan.bsky.social (@catnan.bsky.social) May 5, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-25) said in a statement that “the Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be colorblind—the decision indicated states like Tennessee can redistrict based on partisan politics."
“Tennessee’s redistricting will reduce the risk of future legal challenges while promoting sound and strategic conservatism," Sexton added.
Black Memphians weren't having it. Protesters interrupted the second day of hearings Wednesday as a House committee discussed the proposal, chanting, "Memphis is Black, there's no denying that!" and "Hands off our vote!"
“Memphis is Black! There’s no denying that!”House committee disrupted after Speaker sexton presents the racist Republican maps and claims race has nothing to do with how they carved up the city to dilute black representation with white power 🤔(From @gabbysalinas)
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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) May 6, 2026 at 3:06 PM
"Voters pick our leaders, not the other way around,” Memphis resident Amber Sherman told WREG. "Slicing up Memphis’ congressional districts across a state map will make it impossible for us to get fair representation in Congress because we know that adding a chunk of rural voters to urban cities will never give us fair representation.”
Nashville students confronted Sen. Joey Hensley (R-28) inside the Capitol on Wednesday about how the proposal will disenfranchise voters affected by the redistricting. Hensley's attempt to gaslight the students was caught on camera by The Tennessee Holler, which has provided extensive coverage of the gerrymandering effort.
HENSLEY: “Their vote will still count the same.”STUDENTS: “Then why not leave it the way it was before?”🤔🔥Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) tries to gaslight NASHVILLE students about the Republican push to strip representation from MEMPHIS… and gets immediately owned.
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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) May 6, 2026 at 7:09 AM
During Tuesday's session, numerous Democratic lawmakers objected to the proposal, with some invoking the deadly struggle of the Civil Rights era.
"I never thought in my lifetime as the youngest African American to ever serve in this body, in the history of this state, that I’d be standing in a body surrounded by my colleagues who are going to erase the vote of my city and Black people in Memphis,” state Sen. London Lamar (D-33) said, according to Democracy Docket.
“This will be one of the most racist actions taken in the modern history of this Legislature that you are participating in this week," she continued. "Intentionally breaking state law to take my community’s vote is downright disgusting and offensive.”
“This is an opportunity for you to have some courage, show some courage. Y’all know this is wrong,” Lamar added. “You don’t have to do it.”
State Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-29) said: “There’s no way to sugarcoat eliminating a district that is 61% Black and breaking it up into three different districts. You are deliberately trying to silence the voices of a community. You cannot call it anything but racism.”
“History will not look back kindly on you when you had an opportunity to do what was right and you chose to do something else,” she added.
MEMPHIS SENATOR @raumeshakbari : “This is an act of hate. You cannot call it anything but racism. You cannot sugarcoat this.”Tennessee Republicans are diluting Black representation with white power, stripping their seat in Congress. #JimCrow @GovBillLee @MarshaBlackburn
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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) May 5, 2026 at 4:31 PM
As Democracy Docket reported: "The debate repeatedly returned to personal history. Black lawmakers invoked ancestors who had fought in wars, lived through segregation, and struggled for the right to vote, placing the proposed map squarely in the lineage of those battles."
The fight for civil rights in Memphis spans centuries, from the Reconstruction-era Memphis Massacre to the Ida B. Wells-led anti-lynching campaign to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. to ongoing struggles over police violence, inequality, and economic justice.
Martin Luther King III warned in a letter to legislative leaders that the redistricting would "dismantle the only congressional district that provides Black voters in Memphis a fair opportunity to have a voice in our democracy."
“Do not take this nation back to the days of Jim Crow," he implored, adding that the “resulting disenfranchisement of Black voters would run contrary to everything that my father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for.”
Bisognano vowed to fight the GOP rigging attempt, saying that "Republicans are doing this because they think they can get away with it without consequence."
"But they are wrong," he added. "Tennesseans from across the state are already rising up against this un-American attempt to deny Black voters their voice at the ballot box, and, if enacted, this map will be challenged in court.”
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The Atlantic Says FBI Investigation Into Its Reporting Would Be a 'Dangerous Attack on the Free Press'
One press freedom advocate said the reported FBI investigation "would be outrageous even if The Atlantic reported classified information, which it didn’t."
May 06, 2026
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday denied that it launched a reported probe into The Atlantic, which recently published a damning account of FBI Director Kash Patel’s alleged drunkenness, though magazine leadership and press freedom advocates remain alarmed.
As reported by MS NOW on Wednesday, the FBI is conducting a criminal leak investigation into The Atlantic's Sarah Fitzpatrick, whose reporting on Patel cited two dozen anonymous sources to document concerns about the FBI director's behavior.
MS NOW noted that the investigation into Fitzpatrick's reporting is "highly unusual because it did not stem from a disclosure of classified information" on the part of government insiders.
One source told MS NOW that the FBI agents assigned to the case have expressed serious reservations about its scope and purpose.
"They know they are not supposed to do this," the source said. "But if they don’t go forward, they could lose their jobs. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don't."
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied to MS NOW that the agency had launched an investigation into Fitzpatrick, saying that "every time there’s a publication of false claims by anonymous sources that gets called out, the media plays the victim via investigations that do not exist."
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said the magazine was working to learn more about the alleged investigation, but "if true, this would be an outrageous, illegal, and dangerous attack on the free press and the First Amendment."
"We will defend Sarah and all of our reporters who are subjected to government harassment simply for pursuing the truth," Goldberg added.
Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, also condemned the reported investigation, which he said "would be outrageous even if The Atlantic reported classified information, which it didn’t."
"The FBI is reportedly conducting an invasive leak investigation merely to settle a personal vendetta," added Stern. "Separately, it doesn’t make much sense for Patel’s FBI to investigate leaks from what Patel’s lawsuit over the same reporting called ‘sham sources.’ Fake sources can’t leak."
Patel last month filed a $250 million defamation suit against The Atlantic for its report on his behavior, which the magazine said included "episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences."
The Atlantic vowed to fight the lawsuit, saying it stood by its reporting while describing Patel's complaint as "meritless."
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