WATCH: FBI Director Kash Patel, ATF, DEA heads testify in Senate hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel angrily lashed out at a Democratic lawmaker at a budget hearing Tuesday, calling allegations that he drinks excessively on the job and has been unreachable at times to his staff "unequivocally, categorically false."

Watch the full Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing in the video player above.

"I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations," Patel told Sen. Chris Van Hollen when the Maryland Democrat confronted him about a recent article in The Atlantic magazine that painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership of the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency. Patel has sued over the story. The Atlantic has said it stands by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the "meritless lawsuit."

WATCH: FBI reportedly investigates journalist who wrote about Kash Patel's heavy drinking

Patel shouted over Van Hollen and sought to turn the tables by accusing him of "slinging margaritas" in El Salvador, a reference to a visit the Democrat paid last year to Kilmar Abrego Garcia while he was jailed there following his arrest in Maryland.

The testy exchange occurred at an annual Senate committee budget hearing featuring Patel and other senior law enforcement leaders.