Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, sent a letter to an MSNBC commentator threatening legal action unless she retracts her comments about him on the network.
Olivia Troye, who once served in the Trump administration before becoming a fierce critic of the newly elected president, shared the letter from Patel’s lawyer on social media.
“A lawsuit will be filed against you if you fail to publicly retract the defamatory statements you made about Mr. Patel on MSNBC on December 2, 2024,” the letter reads.
It accuses her of making “several false and defamatory statements” about Patel.
During the MSNBC segment, Troye called Patel a “delusional liar” and accused him of lying about intelligence.
She accused him of “making stuff up during operations,” to the point where he was accused of “endangering the lives of Navy SEALs during an operation when it came to Nigeria.”
Troye also accused Patel of misinforming Vice President Mike Pence.
President-elect Trump’s pick for FBI director threatened legal action against Olivia Troye after she criticized him during an appearance on MSNBC
She claimed she would have to double-check his work so she wouldn’t feed misinformation to the vice president while she worked for him as a special adviser during the Trump administration.
The letter from Patel’s lawyer called her criticism of him a “complete fabrication.”
“At no time did Mr. Patel ever lie about National Intelligence, endanger Navy Seals, or misinform the Vice President,” the letter reads.
The letter accused her of not only having “knowledge of the falsity of this slander” but also “doing so with the malicious intent of demeaning his character and engaging in cynical self-promotion.”
The letter demanded that she retract her comments with a public statement on her X account within five days of receiving the letter.
“Unless this step is taken, Mr. Patel will take swift legal action to uphold his rights and reputation,” the letter said.
It also ordered her to preserve documents relating to Patel, including emails, text messages and other electronic messages, recordings, voicemails, drafts, notes, communications, documents, data and electronically stored information.
Confirmation of receipt of the letter and intention to retract statements was requested, as well as confirmation that she intends to retain documents and data.
Olivia Troye called Patel a “delusional liar” and accused him of lying about intelligence during Trump’s first term during an appearance on MSNBC on December 2.
But Troye decided to make the entire letter public on social media, posting it on X and the Bluesky social platform.
‘This is consistent with his threats to the media and political opponents, showing how he might behave if confirmed in the role, Troye wrote in her post.
“I stand by my statements – my priority remains the safety and security of the American people,” she continued.
‘I’m not the only one who has expressed concerns about him. So why me? And so it begins,” she finished.
Olivia Troye responded to threatened legal action by posting the letter and her response on social media
The letter to Olivia Troye’s attorney from the law firm representing Trump’s FBI pick Kash Patel threatening legal action
Troye, who also previously served at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term and at the Defense Department during the Bush administration, emerged as a fierce critic of Trump after serving in his first administration.
She was one of several former Trump officials who spoke out against him during the 2024 campaign, including from the state of the Democratic National Convention.
Olivia Troye will speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August
Troye with then-Vice President Mike Pence. she served as his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser
Trump announced Saturday that he planned to nominate Patel, a close ally and controversial choice, as the next FBI director, shortening the term of current FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Patel served as chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense, a member of the National Security Council and an adviser to the acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term.
He denies the 2020 election and is also an outspoken critic of the agency he is assigned to lead, accusing the FBI of “deep state” activities.
Patel has also gone after the media who claimed during a podcast recording of Steve Bannon in December 2023 that they will “go after the people in the media who lied about American citizens helping Joe Biden rig the presidential election.”
Patel would need to be confirmed by the Senate to become the next FBI director.
In her appearance on MSNBC’s The Reidout on Monday, Troye warned that Patel is someone whoo “has open contempt for people in national security, especially people at DOJ and the FBI.”
She called it “crazy” if he becomes FBI director and said she fears for the law enforcement officers who will have to work for him.