FBI director loses lawsuit against man who called him ‘googly-eyed’ chud

A United States federal judge has dismissed a $10 million defamation lawsuit brought by FBI Director Kash Patel and his nonprofit Kash Foundation against California blogger Jim Stewartson, ruling that a Nevada court lacked the legal authority to hear the case.

Chief US District Judge Andrew P. Gordon dismissed the case for lack of personal jurisdiction, a legal requirement that a defendant have sufficient ties to the state where a lawsuit is filed. He also vacated a $250,000 default judgment awarded to Patel in August 2025, declaring it void.

Patel filed the lawsuit in June 2023, before becoming FBI director, seeking $10 million in damages over online posts in which Stewartson called him a “Kremlin asset”, alleged he had “attempted to overthrow the government” and “planned” the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, and described him as a “blatantly incompetent chud”, a derogatory term for right-wing political figures.

Stewartson did not initially respond to the lawsuit, leading to a default judgment awarding Patel $200,000 and the Kash Foundation $50,000. He later asked the court to overturn the ruling, arguing that he had not been properly served, Nevada lacked jurisdiction and his posts were protected by the First Amendment.

Judge Gordon said his decision did not determine whether Stewartson’s statements were true, false or protected opinion. Instead, he found that Stewartson, who posted from California, had not specifically targeted Nevada, writing that the posts were directed at “the American body politic writ large” rather than a Nevada audience.

Although Gordon ruled in Stewartson’s favour, he said the blogger appeared to know about the lawsuit, may have avoided service and had “wasted the plaintiffs and the court’s time”.

After the ruling, Stewartson wrote on X that he was pleased the judge had included his description of Patel as a “googly-eyed Kremlin bitch” in a footnote. He later claimed people could now call Patel a “chud”, a “googly-eyed Kremlin bitch” and a “traitor” without fear of legal repercussions.

Patel is also pursuing a separate $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic over an article about his alleged drinking at work.