Houston, Texas - A district court judge dismissed FBI Director Kash Patel's defamation lawsuit against an former employee of the agency who called out his drinking.

Patel had lodged the lawsuit against former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi after he told MS Now's Morning Joe that the FBI director has "been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor."

"There are reports that daily briefings to him have been changed from every day to maybe twice-weekly," Figliuzzi had told Morning Joe co-host Jonathan Lemire. "People don't know what's happening from day-to-day… He's allowing agents to run things."

In response to the comments, Patel cried defamation but did not specify a claim to damages. The case is unrelated to a $250 million lawsuit Patel lodged earlier this week against The Atlantic, which was over an article that detailed his reported "erratic" behavior and excessive drinking.

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US District Court Judge George Hanks Jr. in Houston on Tuesday dismissed Patel's defamation lawsuit against Figliuzzi on the basis that his statement was "rhetorical hyperbole that cannot constitute defamation."

"A person of reasonable intelligence and learning would not have taken his statement literally: That Dir. Patel has actually spent more hours physically in a nightclub than he has spent physically in his office building," Hanks wrote in the ruling.

"Figliuzzi delivered his answer 'in an exaggerated, provocative and amusing way,' employing rhetorical hyperbole," Hanks said. "Accordingly, Dir. Patel has failed to state a claim against Figliuzzi, and his lawsuit must be dismissed."