Judge dismisses Kash Patel's defamation lawsuit over claim he frequented 'nightclubs'

Source: CNBC

Politics
Judge dismisses Kash Patel's defamation lawsuit over claim he frequented 'nightclubs'

Published Tue, Apr 21 2026 8:02 PM EDT
Updated 5 Hours Ago
Dan Mangan
@_DanMangan
@in/danmangancnbc/

KEY POINTS
* A Houston federal court judge dismissed a lawsuit by Kash Patel that claimed Frank Figliuzzi defamed the FBI director in a comment on the MS Now show "Morning Joe."
* Figliuzzi, a former FBI official, had said Patel has "been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building," the FBI's headquarters in Washington, D.C.
* "Figliuzzi's statement is rhetorical hyperbole that cannot constitute defamation," U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr. wrote in his decision.
* The lawsuit is unrelated to the $250 million defamation lawsuit that Patel filed Monday against The Atlantic magazine over an article that alleged he has abused alcohol.


Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 19, 2026.
Daniel Heuer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A Houston federal court judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by FBI Director Kash Patel alleging that former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi defamed him by saying Patel last year had "been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of" the bureau's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

"The Court finds that Figliuzzi's statement is rhetorical hyperbole that cannot constitute defamation," U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr. wrote in his decision. "Accordingly, Dir. Patel has failed to state a claim against Figliuzzi, and his lawsuit must be dismissed." ... The dismissal came a day after Patel filed an unrelated $250 million defamation lawsuit in D.C. federal court against The Atlantic magazine over a new article that alleged he has abused alcohol.

While ruling on the key question of defamation in Figliuzzi's favor, the judge denied his request that he be awarded court costs and attorneys' fees under Texas' anti-SLAPP law. SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation.

Figluizzi's lawyer, Marc Fuller, in a statement to CNBC, said, "This is a victory for press freedom and the First Amendment."

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Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/04/21/kash-patel-fbi-defamation-lawsuit-figliuzzi-dismissed.html