Kash Grabs Trump’s Defamation Playbook
What A Day
What A Day
4.6 • 12.6K Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
FBI director Kash Patel has sued The Atlantic for $250 million. It comes after the magazine published an article alleging that Patel is frequently drunk on the job and that his security team has had difficulty waking him on multiple occasions. Still, The Atlantic isn’t backing down, writing in a statement, “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.” But we've seen this move before, and it appears Kash is simply taking a page out of President Donald Trump’s book. Trump himself has sued the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times for stories and polls he didn’t like. To talk more about the litigious Trump administration, we spoke with Oliver Darcy. He’s the founder of Status, a nightly newsletter focused on the media.
And in headlines, Dr. Mehmet Oz says Trump’s testosterone is top tier, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt recites Iran war talking points, and Republicans are losing at their own redistricting game.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Thursday, April 23rd. I'm Jane Koston, and this is What Today? The show |
| 0:07.9 | learning some new math via President Donald Trump. Here is Health and Human Services Secretary |
| 0:13.7 | Robert F. Kennedy Jr. explaining this new math to Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth |
| 0:19.4 | Warren on Wednesday. |
| 0:20.3 | Doesn't Trump has a different way of calculating? |
| 0:23.1 | If there's two ways of calculating percentage, if you have a $600 truck and you reduce it to 10, |
| 0:29.1 | that's a 600% reduction. |
| 0:31.7 | That is actually a 98.3% reduction. But what do I know? I didn't take math at Trump University. |
| 0:43.5 | On today's show, Republicans' redistricting agenda isn't exactly going to plan. And Medicare and Medicaid |
| 0:49.4 | administrator, Dr. Mehmed Oz, talks about Trump's testosterone. The sentence I never thought I'd say. |
| 0:56.4 | But let's start with the media. |
| 0:58.1 | FBI director Cash Patel sued the Atlantic on Monday for $250 million. |
| 1:02.9 | This is after the magazine published an article last week, alleging that Patel is frequently drunk on the job, |
| 1:08.3 | and his security team has had difficulty waking him on multiple |
| 1:11.7 | occasions. Something you definitely want in an FBI director. Patel made its case at a press |
| 1:18.4 | conference on Tuesday. I'm on the job. I'm the first one in. I'm the last one out. I'm like an |
| 1:23.5 | everyday American who loves his country, loves his sport of hockey, and champions my friends |
| 1:28.3 | when they raise a gold medal and invite me in to celebrate. |
| 1:31.0 | I've never been intoxicated on the job, and that is why we file a $250 million defamation lawsuit, |
| 1:36.8 | and any one of you that wants to participate, bring it on. |
| 1:39.9 | I'll see you in court. |
| 1:40.9 | Okay, but you're not like an everyday American. |
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