MS NOW retracted a report Wednesday that FBI Director Kash Patel had landed in Russia, after the FBI showed he was at a law enforcement event in Lynchburg, Virginia, when the claim aired.
Anchor Peter Alexander announced the report at 11:44 a.m. Eastern, citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter. Mr. Alexander said Mr. Patel had arrived for a scheduled meeting. Correspondent Ken Dilanian told viewers that neither he nor his FBI sources knew what the director was doing there.
The FBI’s Rapid Response account on X answered by posting the MS NOW clip beside video of Mr. Patel at Liberty University. “MS Now’s ‘sources’ are ‘familiar’ with NOTHING!” the account wrote.
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Mr. Patel was attending a roundtable hosted by Rep. John McGuire, Virginia Republican, with local law enforcement and students from Liberty University’s law school, Mr. McGuire said.
About two hours and 10 minutes after the original report, Mr. Dilanian corrected it on a segment hosted by Alicia Menendez. “We regret this error,” he said. He said Mr. Patel remained in the United States and that the FBI had not answered the network’s questions about the report. He added that the timing of any potential trip remains unclear.
Mr. Patel demanded an apology on X, accusing the network of repeatedly lying about the bureau. FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson wrote that he was watching the clip air just as photos of Mr. Patel at the Lynchburg event reached his phone. The White House’s rapid response account also criticized the network.
The report followed Politico’s July account that Mr. Patel was expected to travel to Moscow and St. Petersburg on Wednesday and Thursday, likely hosted by Russia’s Federal Security Service. The plans were described as tentative. It would be the first visit to Russia by an FBI director since Robert Mueller in 2013. Last week, the top Democrats on the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, Jamie Raskin and Jim Himes, urged Mr. Patel to cancel the trip, citing national security concerns.
Mr. Patel’s fiance, country singer Alexis Wilkins, sued MS NOW’s parent company, Versant Media Group, along with Mr. Dilanian and reporter Carol Leonnig on May 29. The suit concerns a December report that Mr. Patel ordered agents guarding her to drive an inebriated friend home, which the suit calls false. MS NOW’s president said the network stands behind the reporting.
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