FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 18, 2026.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday filed an appeal of the recent dismissal of his defamation lawsuit against former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi.
Patel had sued Figliuzzi in Houston federal court, alleging that the former FBI counterintelligence assistant director defamed him in a May 2, 2025, interview on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” by saying Patel had “been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of” FBI headquarters.
U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr., in his April 21 decision dismissing Patel’s lawsuit, said that Figliuzzi’s statement was “rhetorical hyperbole that cannot constitute defamation.”
“Accordingly, Dir. Patel has failed to state a claim against Figliuzzi, and his lawsuit must be dismissed,” Hanks wrote.
Patel’s bid to overturn that ruling will be heard by the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
His suit against Figliuzzi had said the former FBI official fabricated “a specific lie” about Patel because of his “clear animus” toward the director.
“Since becoming Director of the FBI, Director Patel has not spent a single minute inside of a nightclub,” Patel’s suit said.
Hanks dismissed Patel’s suit a day after the FBI director filed an unrelated $250 million defamation lawsuit in D.C. federal court against The Atlantic magazine.
The suit relates to an Atlantic article that alleged Patel has abused alcohol.
