FBI refutes MS NOW report Patel in Russia, posts video of Virginia event

The FBI is refuting a report from MS NOW claiming that FBI Director Kash Patel had landed in Russia for a meeting Tuesday.

MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, aired the report on its weekday morning show “State of Play” with host Peter Alexander and cited two people familiar with the matter as sources for Patel’s whereabouts.

The FBI Rapid Response account posted to the social platform X a side-by-side of MS NOW’s on-air report claiming Patel was in Russia and a video of Patel’s actual whereabouts Tuesday morning: a law enforcement event in Virginia with Rep. John McGuire (R-Va.).

“MS Now’s ‘sources’ are ‘familiar’ with NOTHING!” the account wrote.

Ken Dilanian, an MS NOW justice and intelligence reporter, later delivered on-air remarks about the error.

“We do know now that he [Patel] has not already landed in Russia, as we reported earlier,” Dilanian said. “We regret this error, and we are transparent about when we make errors.”

Dilanian said on “State of Play” Tuesday morning that the FBI had not responded to MS NOW’s request for comment on the network’s reporting and said so again Tuesday afternoon while correcting the mistake.

A spokesperson for MS NOW directed The Hill to Dilanian’s on-air remarks when asked for comment.

Patel’s assistant director for public affairs, Ben Williamson, also called out MS NOW’s report in a post on X.

“I have had many strange experiences in life, but in tier 1 had to be seeing a clip of MS Now reporting breaking news that Kash Patel has ‘just landed in Russia’ – right as I’m receiving pics of Kash Patel doing a law enforcement appreciation event today in Lynchburg, Virginia,” Williamson wrote.

Patel himself also responded, demanding an apology and accusing MS NOW of “constantly telling lies” about the FBI.

“They owe an apology to this FBI, the men and women of law enforcement, and to the American people,” Patel wrote on X.

Politico reported in July that Patel had plans to travel to Russia in mid-October, a trip that sparked backlash from Democrats. Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Jim Himes (D-Conn.), ranking members of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, respectively, wrote Patel a letter earlier this month demanding answers about the reported trip.

“As Director of the FBI, you possess information that would be highly valuable to America’s adversaries. Unfortunately, your affinity for the Russian government does not inspire confidence that you will be able to effectively safeguard those secrets,” the congressmen wrote.