FBI Director Kash Patel has filed a defamation lawsuit against former FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence and MSNBC columnist Frank Figliuzzi, accusing him of falsely claiming that Patel spends more time at nightclubs than working at FBI headquarters.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Texas on June 2. Patel’s legal team argued that Figliuzzi “crossed the legal line by fabricating a specific lie about Director Patel.”
Figliuzzi said of the FBI director on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on May 2, “Reportedly, he’s been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building. And there are reports that daily briefings to him have been changed from every day to maybe twice weekly.”
“The one word that keeps coming back at me from inside that building is ‘chaos,’” Figliuzzi claimed. “People don’t know what’s happening from day to day.” According to the lawsuit, “Defendant knew that this was a lie when he said it,” The Hill news outlet reported.
“Since becoming Director of the FBI, Director Patel has not spent a single minute inside of a nightclub,” per Patel’s suit, which argues that Figliuzzi “fabricated this story to discredit Director Patel” because of Figliuzzi’s “clear animus” toward him.
On the following broadcast of “Morning Joe,” host Jonathan Lemire said, “Figliuzzi said that FBI director Kash Patel has reportedly been more visible at nightclubs than at his office at FBI headquarters. This was a misstatement. We have not verified that claim.”
Last month, Patel delivered a forceful response to criticism from former bureau chief James Comey, while also issuing a pointed warning of his own. Comey had questioned whether Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, were qualified to lead the FBI, suggesting they lacked the experience and capability for the role.
“You know, the FBI is bigger than any leader it’s ever had or ever will have,” Patel said, weighing in on the post. “And James Comey is a private citizen, and he can walk around the beach and talk about seashells and Crayola crayons for all I care about and talk about how we’re the conspiracy theorists.”
“But I’ll just remind the American people of one thing,” the FBI director added. “When that man was the leader of the FBI, he perpetrated the largest criminal conspiracy, packaged political information from overseas, took it to a federal FISA court, and illegally surveilled a political opponent.” He then said, “So, I won’t be lectured on how to run this FBI from that man.”
