Kash Patel demands MS NOW apologize after network's false report claiming FBI director visited Russia
FBI Director Kash Patel is calling on MS NOW to issue more than a correction after the network falsely reported he had landed in Russia.
"MS NOW put me in Russia based on two anonymous sources. I was in Virginia, honoring law enforcement at Liberty University. The network had to correct its false report," Patel wrote on X Thursday.
"This was a basic verification failure," he continued. "They were wrong about my location, and they are wrong about the successes of this FBI and our partnership with State, Local, and Tribal Law Enforcement. If a network cannot confirm where I was before putting it on air, how can the public trust its reporting on the work our agents and officers do every day?
"This is bigger than a false story about me. The men and women of law enforcement deserve accurate reporting while they protect communities and take violent criminals off our streets. Three apologies are owed: to this FBI, to the law enforcement community, and to the American People."
MS NOW did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. A spokesperson previously pointed to the network's on-air correction.
On Wednesday, MS NOW anchor Peter Alexander informed viewers of "breaking news" that Patel had "landed in Russia" to attend meetings. MS NOW justice correspondent Ken Dilanian's report cited two FBI sources and said that there were concerns within the agency about Patel's alleged visit to the Kremlin.
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Shortly after MS NOW ran its breaking news report, the FBI Rapid Response X account mocked the liberal network, noting that Patel was actually in Virginia for a law enforcement appreciation event.
Dilanian later issued a correction.
"I want to correct reporting from earlier today," he told MS NOW viewers. "I reported that two sources had told us that FBI Director Kash Patel had landed in Russia for a planned trip that had been reported about recently. We've since learned that Patel did not, in fact, land in Russia today and remains in the U.S. The FBI did not answer our questions when we asked them about it."
"But we do know now that he has not already landed in Russia, as we reported earlier," Dilanian continued. "The timing of any potential trip remains unclear. Again, we regret this error, and we are transparent about when we make errors."
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There was been speculation among critics that Dilanian's false report was the result of an effort to expose leakers within the FBI. An FBI official would neither confirm nor deny whether leadership had conducted such an operation but said the two leakers involved would "likely" be identified as a result.
"We are always hunting leakers," the FBI official told Fox News Digital.