FBI Director Kash Patel Denies Drinking Excessively – What You Need to Know: April 22, 2026

[0:04] this is what you need to know now president trump extends the ceasefire in iran but still [0:10] no sign of talks virginia votes to redistrict how that could help democrats retake the house [0:16] you can push back against the republicans trying to give themselves an unfair advantage in the [0:21] midterms fbi director cash patel denies a report saying he drinks excessively filing a 250 million [0:29] dollar lawsuit bring it on i'll see you in court the second largest school district in the country [0:34] moves to cut screen time in classrooms and washington zoo debuts their newest celebrity [0:41] her favorite pastime bath time we have much more what you need to know now i'm james longwyn from [0:48] abc news it's wednesday april 22nd and this is what you need to know we'll show you the lifelong ban on [0:54] smoking about to become law in the uk and schools in texas allowed to display the ten commandments [1:00] in classrooms but first the big story president trump extending the ceasefire with iran which was [1:06] set to expire today this is the fifth time the president has blown through a deadline he imposed [1:12] he posted overnight quote iran is collapsing financially and starving for cash due to the [1:17] u.s blockade of the strait of hormuz there are more reports today of iran firing on ships in that [1:23] waterway mary bruce has more from the white house james president trump is now doing what he said he [1:28] was quote highly unlikely to do extending the ceasefire with iran calling the iranian leadership quote [1:34] seriously fractured trump announcing he will quote extend the ceasefire until such time as their proposal [1:40] is submitted and discussions are concluded one way or the other but the president did not provide any [1:45] concrete timeline for this new ceasefire which appears to be indefinite the president had been [1:50] sounding optimistic about talks the vice president had been expected to travel to pakistan yesterday [1:54] to jump start negotiations but iran said they would not resume talks until the u.s ends its blockade [2:01] of iranian ports iran's foreign minister calling the blockade an act of war and thus a violation of the [2:06] ceasefire adding that iran knows how to resist bullying president trump was even threatening to resume [2:12] bombing if a deal was not made but iran not budging demanding that the u.s blockade end saying only then [2:18] can talks resume but trump isn't ready to do that saying for now the u.s blockade will continue [2:24] which means the standoff continues too the idf has jailed two of its soldiers for 30 days after finding [2:31] that they damaged a statue of jesus in southern lebanon their inquiry reporting that one of the [2:36] soldiers damaged the religious symbol while another took the photograph both will be removed from [2:40] combat duty the idf says it was quote unacceptable conduct and a moral failure that contradicts idf values [2:47] and the expected conduct of its troops the other six soldiers who were there and didn't intervene [2:52] or report the incident will be dealt with separately there is a 10-day ceasefire in place between israel [2:57] and hezbollah although israel continues to occupy 55 towns and villages in the south of the country [3:02] israel and hezbollah continue to exchange fire across the border accusing each other of violating [3:07] the ceasefire more talks to extend the truce are due in dc tomorrow in a win for democrats virginia [3:14] just became the latest state to redraw its congressional map voters approved the plan [3:19] that could help democrats flip up to four republican held seats in november as they push to regain control [3:24] on capitol hill it's a setback for president trump who triggered a national redistricting battle when [3:29] he urged texas to redraw its districts to favor republicans florida could be the next state to approve [3:35] a new map governor ron de santos says he plans to bring lawmakers back into a special session next week [3:40] democrats on the house judiciary committee have sent a letter to fbi director cash patel [3:45] requesting information after the atlantic published a scathing report alleging excessive drinking and [3:51] concerns about his job performance the article claims meetings had to be rescheduled at times [3:57] because patel was drinking heavily the night before and it said on multiple occasions members of patel's [4:02] security detail had difficulty waking him because he was seemingly intoxicated patel is now suing the [4:08] atlantic for defamation calling the allegations categorically false and demanding 250 million [4:14] dollars in damages i've never been intoxicated on the job and that is why we filed a 250 million [4:19] dollar defamation lawsuit and any one of you that wants to participate bring it on i'll see you in [4:25] court the atlantic is standing by its reporting calling patel's lawsuit meritless on capitol hill [4:31] president trump's pick to be the next fed chair was pressed on interest rates and whether the president's [4:36] wishes will impact his decisions here's elizabeth schulze james this was a grilling for kevin warsh [4:43] president trump's pick to lead the federal reserve one of the most important jobs in the global [4:48] economy kevin warsh made clear to senators on the banking committee that he supports an independent [4:54] federal reserve that makes decisions separate of political pressure he said that he did not promise [5:00] president trump that he would take any action on interest rates even though president trump has [5:04] continued to push the fed to lower rates in one exchange warsh insisted he would not do the [5:10] president's bidding are you going to be the president's human sock puppet uh senator absolutely [5:16] not democrats at times weren't always buying warsh's testimony senator elizabeth warren asked him if [5:21] there's anything that he disagrees with when it comes to president trump she also questioned warsh's [5:26] financial disclosures which showed 100 million dollars in undisclosed assets war says that he will sell [5:32] those assets if he is confirmed as fed chair the overhang on this whole process is the fact that [5:38] senator tom tillis a republican says that he will not advance warsh's nomination until the justice [5:44] department drops its investigation into the current fed chair jerome powell tillis and powell have said [5:50] that that investigation is politically motivated and until that investigation is dropped there will not be [5:56] a new fed chair confirmed a federal appeals court has ruled texas can require the ten commandments to [6:03] be displayed in public school classrooms the court ruled the law did not violate either the establishment [6:08] clause or the free speech exercise clause of the first amendment the ruling sets up a battle over [6:13] religion in schools in the u.s supreme court take a look at this dramatic video it shows a small plane [6:19] going down in the san fernando valley near los angeles the plane hit a high voltage utility pole and landed [6:25] upside down in a store parking lot good samaritans were seen then lifting the wreckage trying to [6:31] rescue the pilot who was taken to the hospital in a critical condition nearby businesses were evacuated [6:36] and the cause of the crash is now under investigation and historic flooding along lakes and rivers in [6:42] michigan and wisconsin has led to ice jams some of the ice now being pushed into people's homes that [6:48] flooding has been made worse by snow melting in warmer than usual temperatures in the upper midwest [6:53] and we have much more what you need to know now to take three the stories that you'll be talking [7:09] about today number three los angeles public schools are moving to cut back on the amount of times [7:14] students use screens for educational purposes in the classroom parents have become increasingly [7:19] concerned about devices in classrooms the board of education has voted to ban devices for kindergarten [7:25] and first grade students and to limit and track device use for older students this is after years of [7:31] promoting classroom technology and issuing school-owned devices to students more paper and pen assignments [7:36] are expected when the new policy takes effect this fall number two kidnapping survivor and child [7:42] safety activist elizabeth smart has a new surprising hobby bodybuilding the 38 year old was kidnapped [7:48] from her home at age 14 and held captive for nine months she posted a photo of herself competing in [7:53] her fourth bodybuilding show writing quote it pushed me and challenged me to not give up and number one [8:00] here in the uk a groundbreaking law is set to permanently prevent future generations from ever buying [8:07] tobacco it would bar anyone born after 2008 from ever buying cigarettes cigars or tobacco vape products [8:14] the goal is to create a smoke-free generation parliament has passed the bill and it's expected to [8:19] become law after receiving royal assent next week the health minister calls it the biggest public [8:23] health intervention in a generation and says it will save lives new today pittsburgh school buildings are [8:29] closed students have shifted to remote learning as upwards of 800 000 people are expected to pour [8:35] into the city for the nfl draft it would essentially double the population of the city heisman trophy [8:41] winner fernando mendoza will be there he's widely expected to be the number one pick for the las vegas [8:45] raiders the three-day draft kicks off thursday and you can watch it right here on disney plus and now [8:52] one more thing before you go it's earth day and making her public debut is lin mai the first asian [8:58] elephant born at the smithsonian's national zoo in over 25 years now nearly 500 pounds her handlers [9:05] say bath time is her favorite activity the zoo says they hope that when visitors come to see her [9:10] they will fall in love and learn more about ways to help prevent the extinction of this incredible [9:15] species and that's what you need to know for breaking news and live updates throughout the day [9:19] check out abc news streaming on disney plus new episodes streaming every day only on disney plus