Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended Kash Patel on Sunday after he was asked whether President Donald Trump still has confidence in the FBI director amid reports in The Atlantic about alleged excessive drinking and the attack at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner last weekend.

Blanche told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that the “article was full of unnamed sources and should be completely discounted.”

As for how Patel handled the shooting, Blanche noted how busy the FBI director had been.

“I was with Director Patel last night [during the shooting.] I was with him at the crime scene. I was with him in the Oval Office. I was with him afterwards. I was on the phone with him late into the evening,” Blanche said. “He was at the command center, leading the investigation along with our great U.S. Attorney from D.C., Jeanine Pirro, and that’s what he’s doing.”

Blanche also said that he was not going to “speak for President Trump.”

“But I certainly have confidence in Director Patel, and also the men and women working with him, that worked through the night, will work through the day and through the night tonight, to investigate this crime,” he added. “And it’s something that I’m very proud of, and everybody in this country should be proud of it as well.”

Patel has publicly denied The Atlantic’s report and subsequently filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit.

Watch Blanche’s appearance on “Meet the Press” below:

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