A new report suggests that FBI director Kash Patel’s girlfriend is reaping many of the same perks and privileges that come with his position.
The FBI director assigned a full-time SWAT team to protect his girlfriend, aspiring country music singer Alexis Wilkins, 27, and used bureau resources to accompany her on trips, hair appointments and performances, according to the Daily Beast citing New York Times.
Wilkins was assigned a security detail comprising four agents and two cars, the report said. Partners of the bureau’s directors do not typically receive their own personal security detail, especially if they are living in different cities.
Wilkins was protected by SWAT agents, which the FBI said were tapped for “extremely high-risk situations” such as “a special mission, a dangerous takedown, [or] a dignitary that needs protection.”
Ben Williamson, an FBI spokesman, told the New York Times that Wilkins needed protection due to death threats made against her stemming from her relationship to Patel.
Patel’s use of federal agents for personal reasons drew harsh criticism from former FBI agents.
“If you want to be a celebrity or a social media star, get your own security,” Christopher O’Leary, a former senior executive in the FBI’s counterterrorism unit told the New York Times.
“The inappropriateness of this cannot be overstated. ”
Details of Wilkin’s extensive bureau perks followed Patel’s controversial trip to Italy for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Patel was criticised for using the agency’s jet to fly to the Games and watch the men’s ice hockey gold medal game. While the bureau insisted that Patel was in Italy for official business, he was filmed in the Team USA locker room after the men’s team won.
“For the very concerned media – yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys,” Patel wrote on X in response to the criticism.
The Olympics trip was not the first time Patel got in trouble over his use of the private jet. He was previously chastised for using the FBI plane to take him to hockey games and to visit Wilkins in Nashville.
Before he took up the mantle, Patel slammed his predecessor, Christopher A. Wray, for using the bureau’s private planes.
“I’m just saying Chris Wray doesn’t need a government-funded G5 jet to go to vacation,” Patel said in 2023. “Maybe we ground that plane. $15,000 every time it takes off. Just a thought.”
Meanwhile, neither the FBI nor local law enforcement made much progress in the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, who had been missing for more than 3 weeks. Today host Savannah Guthrie recently announced that the family was increasing the award for her mother’s return.
