This is embarrassing, even for MS NOW, which routinely makes fools of itself on air. Today, MS NOW reported that unnamed "sources" told them FBI Director Kash Patel had just landed in Russia. Anchor Peter Alexander had justice and intelligence reporter Ken Dilanian on to discuss this.
There's just one problem: Patel is in Lynchburg, Virginia, at a law enforcement appreciation event. He's not in Russia.
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 pic.twitter.com/U0Cn3LfL6R
— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) October 14, 2026
"We do have some breaking news we want to get to right now here on MS NOW," said Alexander. "This is about FBI Director Kash Patel. MS NOW has learned that Patel has landed in Russia for a meeting scheduled to take place there. That's according to two people familiar with the matter."
Dilanian then joined Alexander to talk about this "breaking news."
"We don't know what Kash Patel is doing in Russia," Dilanian said. "And that is one of the things that's concerning our FBI sources. They don't know either. The FBI's not saying anything about this, I asked them for comment on our reporting, they have not gotten back to me."
Maybe because it's a lie?
The FBI Rapid response account addressed the story, noting that Patel is at Liberty University and sharing an image of Patel at the event and the livestream from WSET ABC 13 of the event.
Left: MS Now reports two sources familiar say Kash Patel just landed in Russia
— FBI Rapid Response (@FBI_Response) October 14, 2026
Right: Here’s where Kash Patel actually is… Liberty U, doing a law enforcement appreciation event
MS Now’s “sources” are “familiar” with NOTHING! pic.twitter.com/4i26hV70VW
Russia looks a lot like Lynchburg, Virginia.
🚨 MS NOW reported that FBI Director Kash Patel had arrived in Russia—but the FBI says he was actually in Virginia, attending a law enforcement appreciation event at Liberty University.
— Stephen Gardner (@StephenGardnerX) October 14, 2026
Video from a local ABC affiliate showed Patel at the event, contradicting the report that he…
Who were these sources?
We know why MS NOW didn't verify this story, of course: they wanted a "gotcha" against President Trump and Director Patel so they didn't bother to do a basic fact check of finding out where the FBI Director was before saying he flew to Russia.
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