Kash Grabs Trump’s Defamation Playbook

Kash Grabs Trump’s Defamation Playbook

From What A Day by What A Day

April 23, 2026 · 22 min

About this episode

The episode discusses Kash Patel's lawsuit against The Atlantic and draws parallels to Donald Trump's legal actions against media outlets.

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. Show Notes: Check out Status – https://www.status.news/ Call Congress – 202-224-3121 Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy What A Day…

People in this episode

Guest: Oliver Darcy

Topics covered

  • Kash Patel
  • defamation
  • Trump administration
  • media
  • lawsuit

Keywords

  • FBI
  • The Atlantic
  • litigation
  • Trump
  • headlines

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Status

Books & works: What A Day

Places: Iran

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