In a rare moment of accountability, MSNBC anchor Jonathan Lemire was forced to walk back a baseless smear aimed at FBI Director Kash Patel — a Trump ally — after one of the network’s so-called “national security analysts” bizarrely claimed Patel spent more time at nightclubs than at FBI headquarters.
Yes, seriously.
On Friday, during a *Morning Joe* segment that veered into the absurd, contributor Frank Figliuzzi — a former FBI official turned MSNBC columnist — tried to paint the Bureau as spiraling into chaos under Patel’s leadership. Without evidence, he claimed the Trump-appointed director had been seen “far more” at nightclubs than at the Hoover Building’s seventh floor, where the FBI’s leadership is housed.
“So this is both a blessing and a curse,” Figliuzzi said, taking a page right out of the left’s now-familiar playbook of projection and panic. “Because if he’s really trying to run things without his experience, without any experience level, things could be bad.”
Experience level? That’s rich coming from the same network that spent years cheerleading James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and the rest of the disgraced Obama-era brass who weaponized the FBI against President Trump with the bogus Russia collusion hoax.
But the real kicker came Monday, when Lemire sheepishly admitted that MSNBC had no evidence to support Figliuzzi’s outlandish claim. “This was a misstatement,” Lemire said. “We have not verified that claim.”
Translation: They made it up. But only after the damage was done and the smear had already gone viral.
Let’s be clear: this is the same Kash Patel who helped expose the lies behind the Russia collusion narrative, served on the House Intelligence Committee under Rep. Devin Nunes, and later played key national security roles in the Trump administration. His appointment to the FBI’s top job sent the D.C. establishment — and their media allies — into a full-blown meltdown.
The fact that MSNBC is now resorting to nightclub gossip tells you everything you need to know about how threatened the left is by the idea of an FBI director who’s actually willing to clean house and restore integrity to a politicized agency.
Figliuzzi didn’t stop there. He also floated the idea that Patel has reduced the frequency of internal briefings and claimed, without substantiation, that the FBI is in a state of “chaos.” Never mind that morale has reportedly improved under Patel’s leadership and that agents are finally being allowed to do their jobs without fear of political retribution from Washington’s ruling elite.
For years, the FBI has been weaponized by Democrats and their media cheerleaders to go after anyone who threatens their grip on power — from parents at school board meetings to pro-life activists to President Trump himself. Now that someone is finally pulling the curtain back, MSNBC is doing what it does best: hurling smears and hoping something sticks.
The network may have quietly corrected the record, but the American people see through the game. It’s not journalism — it’s desperation. And it’s only going to get louder as the swamp continues to drain.
