FBI Director Kash Patel’s Lawsuit Over “Inaccuracies” Is Full of Typos
A defamation lawsuit filed this week by FBI Director Kash Patel against The Atlantic is drawing attention for an awkward reason it contains several spelling mistakes and editing errors, even while criticizing the magazine’s journalism.
The 19-page complaint, filed Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., accuses The Atlantic and one of its reporters of knowingly publishing false and defamatory claims.
However, a closer look at the lawsuit shows multiple basic mistakes, including misspelled words and inconsistent formatting throughout the document.
Patel is seeking at least $250 million in damages in the lawsuit, which strongly focuses on accuracy, fact-checking, and editorial standards. His legal team argues that The Atlantic acted with “actual malice” by knowingly publishing false information.
While a few typos in the complaint do not weaken the legal claims, they stand out because the lawsuit itself is based on accusations of careless journalism and negligence.
Court filings are usually reviewed by multiple attorneys before they are submitted, so these kinds of mistakes are especially noticeable in a high-profile case involving the FBI director and one of the country’s most prominent magazines.
The 19-page complaint includes several clear spelling mistakes, such as “feable” instead of “feeble,” “politices” instead of “policies,” and “dicussed” instead of “discussed.”
These errors appear in sections where the lawsuit criticizes The Atlantic for allegedly failing to follow proper editorial standards.
Jesse R. Binnall, a partner at Binnall Law Group and part of Patel’s legal team, responded to the criticism by telling Newsweek, “If three typos in a 19-page complaint filed just days after The Atlantic’s bogus story is the best a left-wing publication can muster, we feel pretty great about our case.”
The lawsuit claims that The Atlantic relied on anonymous sources to publish false allegations about Patel’s behavior, alcohol use, and job performance. According to the complaint, those claims were denied before publication by the FBI, the Justice Department, and the White House.
The filing also points to an earlier defamation case involving Patel, arguing that The Atlantic should have known similar allegations had already been publicly disputed.
According to the complaint, Patel had previously sued over anonymously sourced claims aired on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, which his lawyers say were later described by the network as unverified. They argue that publishing similar accusations again further shows “actual malice.”
The lawsuit has been filed, but the case is still in its early stages. The Atlantic and the reporter named in the complaint have not publicly commented on either the legal claims or the spelling mistakes found in the filing.
The next phase will likely involve early court motions as the legal battle moves forward.
