FBI Director Kash Patel testifies earlier than a Senate Intelligence Committee listening to on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 18, 2026.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday filed an enchantment of the current dismissal of his defamation lawsuit towards former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi.
Patel had sued Figliuzzi in Houston federal courtroom, alleging that he was defamed when Figliuzzi mentioned in 2025 that Patel had “been seen at nightclubs excess of he has been on the seventh ground of” the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Court docket Choose George Hanks Jr., in his April 21 choice to dismiss Patel’s lawsuit, mentioned that Figliuzzi’s assertion was “rhetorical hyperbole that can’t represent defamation.”
“Accordingly, Dir. Patel has didn’t state a declare towards Figliuzzi, and his lawsuit have to be dismissed,” Hanks wrote.
Patel’s bid to overturn that ruling shall be heard by the fifth Circuit U.S. Court docket of Appeals.
Hanks dismissed Patel’s go well with a day after the FBI director filed an unrelated $250 million defamation lawsuit in D.C. federal courtroom towards The Atlantic journal.
The go well with pertains to an Atlantic article that alleged Patel has abused alcohol.
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