FBI Director Kash Patel got some bad news on Tuesday, as a federal judge threw out his lawsuit against legal commentator Frank Figliuzzi.
Patel sued Figliuzzi, himself a former FBI official who has done legal commentary for MSNBC — since renamed to MS NOW — for claiming that Patel has “been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building,” meaning he is frequently absent from his job. Patel claimed this is false, as he has in fact spent more time in the FBI headquarters than at nightclubs.
Figliuzzi argued that his comments were tongue in cheek and not meant to be taken literally — and that, furthermore, the lawsuit was a frivolous measure designed to silence criticism, or a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP).
U.S. District Judge George Hanks of the Southern District of Texas sided with the latter.
“The Court finds that Dir. Patel has failed to successfully allege a claim for defamation against Figliuzzi,” wrote Hanks. He further found that Patel’s lawsuit violated Texas’ anti-SLAPP law — but stopped short of ruling that Patel is required to pay Figliuzzi’s attorneys’ fees, a common punishment for SLAPP litigators.
All of this comes as Patel launches another lawsuit against The Atlantic for publishing a story that made similar claims about his tenure at the FBI.
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