Kash Patel Snaps When He’s Fact-Checked About Own Lawsuit to His Face
FBI Director Kash Patel appeared to lie to reporters Tuesday about having a major meltdown over IT problems—contradicting his own $250 million defamation lawsuit in the process.
The Atlantic reported over the weekend that Patel lost his cool earlier this month when, unable to log into his work computer in the morning, he made a number of frantic phone calls claiming he’d been fired.
In his lawsuit against the publication, filed Monday, lawyers for Patel claimed the assertion he “engaged in a ‘freak out’” was false. “Director Patel had a routine technical problem logging into a government system, which was quickly fixed,” the lawsuit said.
But speaking to reporters Tuesday evening, Patel fell apart at the simplest question about the article, and claimed that he was “never locked out” of his computer in the first place.
“Your lawsuit contends that you were not able to log in to the system. What did you think after you were unable to log in to the system?” one reporter asked.
“Let’s have a survey: How many of you people believe that’s true?” Patel asked the crowd. The same reporter then asked Patel whether he communicated to anyone that he believed he was fired, and pressed him to answer the “straightforward question.”
“The problem with you and your baseless reporting is that it is an absolute lie. It was never said. It never happened,” Patel said, but the reporter did not relent.
“The simple answer to your question is you are lying,” Patel said, finally adding: “I’ve answered your question. It’s simply as follows: I was never locked out of my systems.”
The reporter noted that Patel’s own lawsuit said otherwise. “Anybody who says—anyone that says the opposite is lying,” Patel said.
Someone here is lying—but it’s not the reporter who was asking the questions.
REPORTER: Can you explain the computer log in issue? Your lawsuit contends you were not able to log into the system
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 21, 2026
KASH PATEL: Let's have a survey. How many of you people believe that's true?
REPORTER: Did you communicate with anyone you thought you were fired?
PATEL: It's an… pic.twitter.com/t9zdhS7qmb