An Obama-appointed federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by FBI Director Kash Patel, who accused a former FBI official of defamation for claiming he frequently visited “nightclubs” while on the job.
The litigation stemmed from defendant Frank Figliuzzi’s May 2025 remarks on MS NOW, formerly known as MSNBC, about Patel being “visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building.” The director sued the bureau’s former assistant director for counterintelligence in Texas a month later.
The case came to a close on Tuesday when U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. of Houston rejected the lawsuit because Figliuzzi’s claim was nothing more than “rhetorical hyperbole,” not defamation.
“The Court finds that Figliuzzi’s statement is rhetorical hyperbole that cannot constitute defamation,” Hanks wrote in his opinion. “Accordingly, Dir. Patel has failed to state a claim against Figliuzzi,
and his lawsuit must be dismissed.”
The judge inserted a subtle insult against the plaintiff in the court filing, suggesting Figliuzzi’s comment would not have been interpreted the wrong way by a “person of ordinary intelligence.”
“A person of reasonable intelligence and learning would not have taken his statement literally: that Dir. Patel has actually spent more hours physically in a nightclub than he has spent physically in his office building,” Hanks argued. “By saying that Patel spent ‘far more’ time at nightclubs than his office, Figliuzzi delivered his answer ‘in an exaggerated, provocative and amusing way,’ employing rhetorical hyperbole.”
While he ruled in favor of Figliuzzi, the judge denied his request to recover court costs and attorney’s fees under the anti-SLAPP statute in Texas. The law is designed to dismiss meritless lawsuits that violate one’s right to free speech, right to petition, or right of association. The SLAPP acronym stands for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation.
The defamation lawsuit is different from the one that Patel brought against the Atlantic this week after the magazine published an article on the Trump appointee’s alleged drinking problem and unexplained absences, specifically how those issues threaten national security.
KASH PATEL CLASHES WITH MEDIA ON ALCOHOL USE, INSISTS HE’S NEVER BEEN DRUNK ON JOB
The FBI insists the story is false while the Atlantic stands by its reporting. The story was based on more than two dozen anonymous sources.
At an unrelated press conference on Tuesday, Patel denied he ever drank alcohol on the job and defended his $250 million defamation lawsuit against the left-leaning publication.