MS NOW aired a report that FBI Director Kash Patel had landed in Russia for a meeting. The FBI answered with video showing him at a Liberty University event in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the network corrected the report on air roughly two hours and ten minutes after it ran.
The report rested on two unnamed sources. Most outlets place it on Wednesday, though The Hill says Tuesday, and the date should be checked against the timestamps on the original X posts. The FBI's press shop made the simplest rebuttal available: footage of Patel on American soil.
The episode is small in the scheme of things, but it puts a spotlight on anonymous sourcing, and this time the subject was able to answer it in real time.
Two Sources, One Wrong Country
Anchor Peter Alexander carried the report, which cited "two people familiar with the matter." The Washington Times put the broadcast at 11:44 a.m. Eastern, and The Hill identified the program as "State of Play." The Hill dated the report to Tuesday, while the Washington Times, KUTV and IBTimes UK said Wednesday.
Ken Dilanian, the network's justice and intelligence reporter, added detail. According to KUTV, whose syndicated report cited Fox News, Dilanian said his FBI sources were concerned because they did not know why Patel was in Russia, and that the trip would raise eyebrows since Russia's FSB security service would be a potential host. The Washington Times reported he told viewers that neither he nor his sources knew what Patel was doing there.
Who those sources were, and how the report went wrong, remains unknown. MS NOW has not said whether they misunderstood a planned trip or got the timing wrong.
The FBI Answers With Video
The FBI Rapid Response account on X posted a side-by-side of the MS NOW clip and video of Patel at a Liberty University law enforcement appreciation event in Lynchburg. In the post, the account wrote: "MS Now's 'sources' are 'familiar' with NOTHING!"
The event was a Law Enforcement Leadership and Student Roundtable with local officials, prosecutors and students, IBTimes UK reported. According to the Washington Times and The Hill, Rep. John McGuire, a Virginia Republican, said he hosted it.
Ben Williamson, the FBI's assistant director for public affairs, wrote on X that he watched the clip air just as photos of Patel at the event reached his phone, the Washington Times and The Hill reported. The Washington Times also reported that the White House rapid response account criticized MS NOW. Patel himself wrote on X that the network owed an apology to the FBI, to law enforcement and to the American people, and added: "Facts over clickbait."
The Correction, and What It Left Out
On Alicia Menendez's 1 p.m. Eastern hour, about two hours and ten minutes after the original report, Dilanian corrected it. "We've since learned that Patel did not, in fact, land in Russia today and remains in the U.S.," he said. The Hill quoted him adding, "We regret this error, and we are transparent about when we make errors."
Dilanian also said the FBI had not answered MS NOW's questions about the report, and he noted earlier reports that a Patel meeting in Russia was planned, according to Deadline's report as carried by Yahoo. The timing of any such plan remains unclear. The Washington Times, in an excerpt that cuts off mid-sentence, points to a July Politico report that Patel was expected to travel to Moscow. We have not seen the Politico piece itself. Whether any such trip is on the calendar has not been confirmed, and no outlet has reported an FBI denial of a future trip.
An MS NOW spokesperson referred The Hill and Deadline to Dilanian's on-air remarks. The reports reviewed describe no formal apology, only the on-air correction.
A Second Quarrel Over the Numbers
Patel also focused on a separate MS NOW report that FBI criminal cases are down. Dilanian defended that report on X, Deadline reported, saying Justice Department data show FBI criminal referrals down 15 percent, which he put at thousands fewer cases than under President Biden. Patel disputes the claim.
What comes next is open. MS NOW may say more beyond the on-air correction, the FBI may or may not announce any Patel travel, and the dispute over the criminal referral numbers is not resolved.
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