FBI Director Kash Patel filed a 19-page defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic in federal court in Washington, D.C. on Monday. The legal arguments in the filing are serious, but the document has drawn attention for a very different reason; it is packed with typos and formatting errors.
The lawsuit is seeking at least $250 million in damages and repeatedly focuses on themes like fact-checking, accuracy, and editorial standards. Yet Newsweek reports that the filing itself contains basic spelling mistakes, including “feable” instead of “feeble,” “politices” instead of “policies,” and “dicussed” instead of “discussed.” It is a notable contradiction for a legal team that is accusing a publication of being careless and negligent.
To be clear, the spelling errors do not technically hurt the legal case Patel is making. The complaint argues that The Atlantic used anonymous sources to publish false claims about Patel’s job performance, alcohol use, and general behavior.
Patel’s lawsuit centers on an Atlantic report backed by over two dozen anonymous sources, including current and former FBI officials
Patel’s legal team, Binnall Law Group, says the White House, the Justice Department, and the FBI all denied these allegations before the magazine published the story, and that The Atlantic ignored those denials and published anyway, which the lawsuit describes as acting with actual malice.
The Atlantic story at the heart of this lawsuit featured more than two dozen anonymous sources, including current and former FBI officials. Those sources claimed that Patel had a pattern of unexplained absences and excessive drinking. The report also alleged that his security detail had trouble waking him on several occasions, apparently due to intoxication, and framed the behavior as a potential national security concern.
Staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick, who wrote the piece, has said that she and The Atlantic stand fully behind the reporting. Patel, however, made his position clear even before the story was published.
When the article was being finalized, he told The Atlantic directly, “print it – all false. I’ll see you in court. Bring your checkbook.” This is not the first time Patel’s conduct as FBI director has come under scrutiny. His controversial beach trip while planning a top-secret meeting also drew widespread attention.
The lawsuit also brings up earlier defamation cases involving Patel, specifically pointing to anonymous claims that were aired on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and were later described by the network as unverified. Patel’s legal team argues that because of this history, The Atlantic had reason to be more careful before publishing similar anonymously sourced claims.
The broader tension between Patel and FBI staff has been well documented, with fired FBI agents pushing back against his leadership, making headlines in recent months. Court filings in high-profile cases typically go through several rounds of review by legal teams before reaching a judge, which makes the volume of errors in this document stand out.
The fact that a filing centered on journalistic accuracy contains this many basic mistakes has raised questions about how the document was prepared and reviewed before submission. As of now, The Atlantic and the reporter named in the complaint have not publicly responded to the filing or commented on the typos.
The case is in its early stages, and the defense is expected to file motions in the coming weeks. It remains to be seen whether the spelling errors will become a lasting distraction or simply a minor side note in what looks set to be a long and costly legal battle.
Published: Apr 22, 2026 03:11 am