FBI Director Kash Patel has filed a lawsuit against former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence and MSNBC columnist Frank Figliuzzi for defamation over claiming that Patel has been visiting nightclubs more than working at the bureau's headquarters.

Patel sued Figliuzzi in a Texas federal court on June 2. His lawyers argued that Figliuzzi “crossed the legal line by fabricating a specific lie about Director Patel.”

Figliuzzi said of Patel on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” on May 2, “Reportedly, he’s been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building. And there are reports that daily briefings to him have been changed from every day to maybe twice weekly.”

“The one word that keeps coming back at me from inside that building is ‘chaos,’” Figliuzzi added. “People don’t know what’s happening from day to day.”

According to the lawsuit, “Defendant knew that this was a lie when he said it,” The Hill news outlet reported.

“Since becoming Director of the FBI, Director Patel has not spent a single minute inside of a nightclub,” per Patel’s suit, which argues that Figliuzzi “fabricated this story to discredit Director Patel” because of Figliuzzi's “clear animus” toward him.

On the following broadcast of “Morning Joe,” host Jonathan Lemire said, “Figliuzzi said that FBI director Kash Patel has reportedly been more visible at nightclubs than at his office at FBI headquarters. This was a misstatement. We have not verified that claim.”

MSNBC declined to comment on Patel’s lawsuit.