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FBI Director Kash Patel has five days to respond to a motion arguing his own public record proves The Atlantic's drinking allegations are 'inherently plausible.'

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan set the Aug. 17 deadline after granting a joint extension request, according to the court docket. The Atlantic filed its motion to dismiss on July 27.

The Atlantic's April story, "The FBI Director is MIA," reported that Patel drank to excess, missed work, and posed a national-security risk. Patel called it false and sued for $250 million.

"Print it, all false, I'll see you in court—bring your checkbook," Patel told the magazine through his spokesman before it published.

The Atlantic's lawyers argue Patel cannot meet the legal standard required of public officials in defamation cases. That standard — called actual malice — requires proof that a publisher knew a story was false or strongly suspected it was, according to the filing.

"The Complaint does not come close to satisfying this demanding constitutional standard," the filing said. "It does not allege a single fact showing that any statement in the Article is false, much less that Defendants had 'serious doubts' or 'actual knowledge of falsity' for any of these statements."

The filing goes further, arguing Patel's own public behavior undercuts his suit, according to the motion.

"The Article itself shows that the Allegedly Defamatory Statements are not implausible," the filing said, "but rather inherently plausible."

The filing said reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick spoke to more than two dozen sources, according to the motion. They included current and former FBI officials, members of Congress, and hospitality workers.

Six sources confirmed that briefings had to be rescheduled because of Patel's alcohol-fueled nights, the motion said.

Nine sources confirmed he panicked when a computer malfunction led him to believe he had been fired, according to the filing.

The story described officials telling Fitzpatrick that Patel's security detail had difficulty waking him on multiple occasions, and that a request was made for specialized breaching equipment — tools normally used by SWAT teams — because he was unreachable behind locked doors, according to the filing.

The filing noted that Patel's drinking was already a matter of public record before the story ran.

In February, Patel was filmed chugging beer in the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team's locker room in Milan. FBI headquarters was simultaneously managing a cartel violence outbreak in Mexico, CNN reported.

Days after The Atlantic published, a 2005 letter from Patel's Florida Bar application — obtained by The Intercept — disclosed he had been arrested twice on alcohol-related charges, once for public intoxication in 2001 and once for public urination after leaving a bar in 2005.

The story's fallout reached Capitol Hill the following month, according to Senate records.

At a May budget hearing, Patel agreed to take an alcohol use disorders test after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) demanded it. Patel called the allegations "a total farce."

The Atlantic suit is the latest in a long line, according to the motion.

A federal judge in Texas dismissed Patel's defamation suit against MS NOW analyst Frank Figliuzzi the day after Patel filed against The Atlantic. The judge called Figliuzzi's comment about Patel's nightclub visibility "rhetorical hyperbole."

None of Patel's five defamation suits has succeeded, according to the filing.

Patel's response is due Aug. 17. The Atlantic's reply is due Aug. 31.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton started chanting "U-S-A" on stage during a rally Wednesday night in a panicked attempt to drown out a person in the crowd trying to confront him over why he gave an Epstein-style sweetheart plea deal to an admitted child molester.

Paxton, President Donald Trump's scandal-plagued pick in the heated Texas Senate race, has been facing scrutiny in the fallout over a plea deal for Adam Dean Hoffman, a 49-year-old attorney accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy for years, according to The Texas Tribune. Hoffman surrendered his law license, and in the deal, he was let out of jail in just days without having to register as a sex offender.

At the event at White Oak Music Hall in north Houston, he faced public questions over the decision.

"Why did you let Adam Hoffman free?" A person in the crowd yelled out at Paxton.

Paxton tried to sway the crowd and divert them to chanting instead.

"I'm going to do a little something different tonight. It's kind of risky," Paxton said, breaking into the patriotic chant.

Just before taking the stage at the event, Paxton had an aide step in between himself and a citizen asking him a critical question: "How come on a government salary you own over 15 houses?" Journalist Aaron Rupar shared video from the encounter.

Social media users called Paxton out over Hoffman and the plea deal.

"In a brutal moment, Ken Paxton’s rally was just interrupted by an attendee mad about Paxton’s Epstein-style deal for a child predator. What a disaster for MAGA," wrote X account Democratic Wins Media, which tracks campaigns and candidates.

"Notice how Paxton had to start the USA chant. His 'supporters' didn’t. Very 'please clap' vibes," wrote X user Mike in Houston, who self-describes as a 35-year veteran of the energy industry.

"If you have to drown out people asking why you released a child rapist by chanting USA, you're the f----- devil," Will Kelly, software recruiter and progressive political commentator, wrote on X.