Judge George Hanks Jr. Dismisses Kash Patel Defamation Suit Against Frank Figliuzzi

A Houston federal court judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by FBI Director Kash Patel against former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi over a remark that Patel had been “visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of” the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“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”

CNBC

The case was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr., who wrote in his decision that “The Court finds that Figliuzzi's statement is rhetorical hyperbole that cannot constitute defamation.”

CNBC

Hanks concluded that “Accordingly, Dir. Patel has failed to state a claim against Figliuzzi, and his lawsuit must be dismissed.”

The dispute traces back to Figliuzzi’s comments on the MS Now show “Morning Joe,” where Figliuzzi said, “Yeah, well, reportedly, he's been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building,” according to CNBC.

The Daily Beast similarly described the remark as “been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of” the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and said the comments were made on “MS NOW show Morning Joe.”

The dismissal came a day after Patel filed an unrelated $250 million defamation lawsuit in D.C. federal court against The Atlantic, according to CNBC.

In the same CNBC account, the judge denied Patel’s request for court costs and attorneys’ fees under Texas’ anti-SLAPP law, while Figliuzzi’s lawyer Marc Fuller called it “a victory for press freedom and the First Amendment.”

In explaining why Patel’s lawsuit could not proceed, Judge George Hanks Jr. emphasized how a “person of reasonable intelligence and learning” would interpret Figliuzzi’s statement about time spent in nightclubs versus the FBI’s office building.

Hanks wrote, “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.”

Deadline

He added that “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,” according to both CNBC and The Daily Beast.

Deadline likewise quoted the same reasoning, stating that because Hanks found the statement was “rhetorical hyperbole,” it “cannot be considered defamation.”

While the judge dismissed the defamation claim, the rulings also addressed Texas’ anti-SLAPP framework, which is designed to protect speech.

CNBC said the judge denied Patel’s request that he be awarded court costs and attorneys’ fees under Texas’ anti-SLAPP law, while The Daily Beast said the judge “ruled that Figliuzzi was unable to recover attorney fees and costs under Texas’s anti-SLAPP law.”

Figliuzzi’s own response, as reported by The Daily Beast, came via a Substack statement where he said, “I’m appreciative of the judge’s ruling. This is a win for the first amendment and for a free press.”

The nightclub defamation dismissal arrived alongside a separate, larger lawsuit that Patel filed against The Atlantic, which CNBC described as a $250 million defamation case filed in D.C. federal court.

“A federal judge has thrown out a defamation lawsuit FBI Director Kash Patel brought against an ex-FBI employee”

The Daily Beast

CNBC said the dismissal came a day after Patel filed that unrelated lawsuit, and it described the Atlantic report as alleging that Patel “has abused alcohol.”

Deadline and The Daily Beast both tied Patel’s press briefing and his denial to the Atlantic allegations, with Deadline saying the bombshell report alleged that Patel had “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”

Deadline reported that Patel claimed the Atlantic story was “replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office.”

The Atlantic responded in a statement quoted by Deadline, saying, “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.”

The Daily Beast also described the Atlantic lawsuit as separate from the Figliuzzi case, stating, “The lawsuit is not related to the $250 million defamation case Patel launched on Monday against The Atlantic.”

Together, the reporting shows Patel pursuing parallel defamation claims while the Figliuzzi case ended at the motion stage with Judge Hanks’ rhetorical hyperbole analysis.

Beyond the courtroom, the sources describe Patel addressing the Atlantic allegations and also referencing footage involving the U.S. men’s hockey team after an Olympic win in February.

CNBC reported that during a media conference, Patel addressed the footage of him “chugging a beer with the U.S. men’s hockey team after their Olympic win in February.”

The Independent

CNBC quoted Patel saying, “I’m like an everyday American who loves his country, loves the sport of hockey, and champions my friends when they raise a gold medal and invite me in to celebrate,” and it also quoted him saying, “I’ve never been intoxicated on the job, and that’s why we filed a $250 million lawsuit.”

CNBC further quoted Patel’s challenge to reporters: “Any one of you that wants to participate? Bring it on. I’ll see you in court.”

In the Figliuzzi dispute, the sources also include Figliuzzi’s own additional claims about the FBI’s internal situation, which Deadline and The Daily Beast reported as part of the broader context of his remarks.

The Daily Beast quoted Figliuzzi saying there were “reports that daily briefings to him have been changed from every day to maybe twice-weekly,” and it said Figliuzzi added that his FBI contacts told him the agency was in a state of “chaos.”

Taken together, the reporting places Patel’s defamation litigation in a broader public-facing dispute that includes both the Atlantic alcohol allegations and the nightclub remark that Judge Hanks treated as rhetorical hyperbole.

The sources present sharply different emphases on what the Figliuzzi remark meant and what the dismissal signifies for press freedom.

“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”

CNBC

CNBC framed the judge’s ruling as rejecting Patel’s claim that Figliuzzi defamed him, quoting Judge Hanks’ conclusion that the statement “cannot constitute defamation,” and it reported that Figliuzzi’s lawyer Marc Fuller called it “a victory for press freedom and the First Amendment.”

CNBC

The Daily Beast likewise quoted Hanks’ rhetorical hyperbole reasoning and included Figliuzzi’s own Substack reaction that it was “a win for the first amendment and for a free press.”

Deadline, while describing the same legal outcome, focused on the procedural result that “the judge, though, ruled that Figliuzzi was unable to recover attorneys fees and costs under Texas’ anti-SLAPP law,” and it also described the statement as “exaggerated, provocative and amusing.”

In the underlying dispute, the remark itself is quoted with small wording differences across outlets: CNBC quoted Figliuzzi saying Patel had been “visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the bureau's headquarters in Washington, D.C.,” while Deadline and The Daily Beast described it as “visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building.”

The Daily Beast also added that the network walked back Figliuzzi’s comments on Monday, with Lemire stating, “Figliuzzi said that FBI Director Kash Patel has been more visible at nightclubs than the FBI headquarters. This was a misstatement. We have not verified that claim.”

For Figliuzzi, the sources show he publicly characterized the outcome as a win for constitutional protections, with The Daily Beast quoting him: “I’m appreciative of the judge’s ruling. This is a win for the first amendment and for a free press.”