FBI Director Kash Patel is once again under scrutiny for allegedly bending the bureau’s resources to support his personal life, this time involving his girlfriend’s social outings.
According to MS NOW, in more than one instance, Patel instructed the FBI security detail assigned to his 27-year-old girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, to escort one of her allegedly intoxicated friends home after a night out in Nashville.
In one incident, agents reportedly pushed back, only for Patel to override them and call the head of Wilkins’ detail to berate him.
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The FBI hasn’t offered much clarity. Speaking to MS NOW, FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson issued a blanket denial. “This is made up and did not happen,” he told the outlet.
Wilkins, who splits her time between Nashville and Washington, according to the Daily Beast, is protected full-time by FBI agents normally assigned to the Bureau’s Nashville SWAT team—a stark departure from precedent. There is no record of a director’s girlfriend ever receiving her own detail, a particularly striking move given that Patel and Wilkins don’t even live together, much less in the same state.
Within the FBI, the situation has become a running topic of gossip and frustration. Agents trained for high-risk operations have been redirected to shepherd a private citizen through social outings.
Former agent Christopher O’Leary didn’t mince words. Speaking to MS NOW, he called the orders “outrageous” and demonstrative of Patel’s “complete lack of judgment and integrity.”
“FBI agents serve the public and swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution,” he said. “This is clearly a long way from that.”
The concerns don’t come in a vacuum. In November, more than 20 current and former bureau employees described the FBI leadership under Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino as “rudderless.” Patel, they said, was “insecure” and lacking the basic professionalism the job demands.
And yet, Wilkins dismissed MS NOW’s reporting with a jab.
“Ken’s 3 sources: the voices in his head,” she tweeted at Ken Dilanian, one of the reporters on the story. “Nice try, Ken. Let’s try something even remotely believable next time instead of some party girl trope that’s lame and verifiably false.”
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The allegations also fit a pattern of complaints about Patel and Bongino. Still, ordering a SWAT team to drive a girlfriend’s friend home stands out as a particularly glaring example of misusing federal resources—one that has left many within the bureau questioning judgment and priorities at the top.
Patel’s judgment has also been questioned in other recent situations. According to multiple reports, he refused to deplane to oversee the investigation into conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s murder until an FBI raid jacket was brought to him. He is also under investigation for using FBI aircraft for what appears to be personal travel.
That travel has raised eyebrows on its own. Patel took a $60 million government jet to watch Wilkins perform at a wrestling event in Pennsylvania on Oct. 25, then flew to Nashville later that day. The same plane returned to Nashville on March 21—the fourth trip that month—and made repeated stops aligned with Wilkins’ appearances and even her 27th birthday.
The bureau has not said which of Patel’s Nashville trips were personal, which were official, or whether he plans to repay any of the costs.
Inside the Trump administration, patience appears to be thinning. Patel’s conduct has reportedly irritated senior officials, and while Trump publicly denies being unhappy with his FBI director, multiple sources say he has considered firing him.
Of course, this latest controversy might only deepen Patel’s troubles. Every new story about his actions piles on criticism both inside the FBI and in Washington, leaving the bureau to ask a pressing question: How long can Patel remain in a leadership role as he continues to erode the agency’s credibility?
