Sam Patten’s wildlife as a cooperating witness.
Looking back, Sam Patten knew he was fucked the moment the men in suits came looking for him. He returned from vacation to a report from his son, who said strange men who looked like the Feds had knocked on the door but wouldn’t reveal their identification or why they were after his father. “I started to get a real bad sense then,” Patten told me. He’d seen enough movies.
The second visit came late one morning just after Easter 2018. His Siberian husky, Pepper, began to go “berserk.” Patten, a 48-year-old Republican political operative who was about to be dragged right into the center of the Robert Mueller investigation, could hear a commotion from the basement of his Capitol Hill townhouse, where he was working in the cluttered office he calls “my little dungeon.” Pepper is sweet and easily subdued by any affection, so when her barking continued— loud, urgent, insistent—it was enough to draw Patten back upstairs.
By the time he made it to the living room, the FBI agents were already there, arguing with his wife, Laura Patten. The intruders were no strangers to her; she says she spent the last handful of years in her two-decade career in national security detailed to the agency. “When you’ve devoted the bulk of your adult life to protecting U.S. national security and interests, it is a very surreal experience to have the FBI show up at your house,” she told me.
“They were going back and forth about what they were here for,” Sam said. “And I came up holding my cell phone and they were like, ‘That!’ ”
The agents informed Sam that they’d be taking it. “And I said, ‘You’re not taking it until we call the lawyer,’ ” Laura remembered. But the agents produced a warrant, leaving the Pattens with few civil options.
Denne historien er fra August 19 - September 1, 2019-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra August 19 - September 1, 2019-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Trapped in Time
A woman relives the same day in a stunning Danish novel.
Polyphonic City
A SOFT, SHIMMERING beauty permeates the images of Mumbai that open Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light. For all the nighttime bustle on display-the heave of people, the constant activity and chaos-Kapadia shoots with a flair for the illusory.
Lear at the Fountain of Youth
Kenneth Branagh's production is nipped, tucked, and facile.
A Belfast Lad Goes Home
After playing some iconic Americans, Anthony Boyle is a beloved IRA commander in a riveting new series about the Troubles.
The Pluck of the Irish
Artists from the Indiana-size island continue to dominate popular culture. Online, they've gained a rep as the \"good Europeans.\"
Houston's on Houston
The Corner Store is like an upscale chain for downtown scene-chasers.
A Brownstone That's Pink Inside
Artist Vivian Reiss's Murray Hill house of whimsy.
These Jeans Made Me Gay
The Citizens of Humanity Horseshoe pants complete my queer style.
Manic, STONED, Throttle, No Brakes
Less than six months after her Gagosian sölu show, the artist JAMIAN JULIANO-VILLAND lost her gallery and all her money and was preparing for an exhibition with two the biggest living American artists.
WHO EVER THOUGHT THAT BRIGHT PINK MEAT THAT LASTS FOR WEEKS WAS A GOOD IDEA?
Deli Meat Is Rotten