NEED TO KNOW
- Sources claim FBI Director Kash Patel demanded demanding agents drive the allegedly drunken friend of his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, home after partying in Nashville, according to a MS NOW report
- Patel’s use of agents to protect his girlfriend has been widely criticized, specifically his use of SWAT team members as her security detail
- An FBI spokesperson denied the details of the MS NOW report, insisting, “This is made up”
Kash Patel is coming under fire once again for how he has allegedly used a security detail for his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins. The FBI director, 45, is accused of ordering the agents assigned to Wilkins to drive one of her allegedly intoxicated friends home after partying in Nashville, where Wilkins spends time for work.
MS NOW reported that three sources claimed Wilkins, 27, asked her security detail at least twice to escort her friend home, including one instance in the spring. When the agents said no, Patel demanded they do so, according to the sources.
Patel allegedly called the lead agent on Wilkins’ security team and yelled at him to drive Wilkins’ friend home, MS NOW reported. The sources claimed such incidents have raised alarm among FBI agents, who “have grown increasingly concerned by Patel’s use of the bureau’s strapped resources,” according to MS NOW.
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied the events described in the MS NOW report, telling the outlet, “This is made up and did not happen.”
The report comes after Patel was criticized late last month for assigning SWAT team members to Wilkins’ detail.
MS NOW separately reported that Wilkins’ security team — which includes elite agents typically assigned to Nashville’s FBI field office — had sparked worry about potential delays in law enforcement response to emergency situations, citing two people “with direct knowledge” of the situation.
The use of such agents also raised concerns about abuse of power and misuse of resources. The New York Times reported in November that resources had been diverted from the SWAT team to Wilkins multiple times in a matter of months.
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Patel’s use of a security detail for Wilkins is unusual, MS NOW reported, noting that partners of high-ranking FBI officials typically only received security protection during joint travels in the past.
In early November, Patel was called out for taking a $60 million FBI jet to State College, Pa., where Wilkins was performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a wrestling event at Penn State University’s Bryce Jordan Center, according to reports from The Daily Beast and The New Republic.
In April, CBS News reported that Patel used a government-owned jet on two separate round-trip flights from Washington, D.C. to New York City in one weekend. He first traveled to a New York charity hockey event hosted by the FBI. He returned to Washington, D.C., and the following night went back to New York to watch the New York Islanders play the Washington Capitals from a luxury box with Wayne Gretzky, CBS News reported.
Patel had previously criticized other government officials for using official planes for personal business, including on a 2023 episode of his podcast Kash’s Corner, in which he said he wanted to “ground Chris Wray’s private jet travel that he pays for with taxpayer dollars to hop around the country,” referring to his FBI predecessor.
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Former agents have spoken out against Patel’s use of government resources, including former senior F.B.I. agent Christopher O’Leary.
“His abusive and excessive use of the GV Jet for his personal adventures and the assignment of SWAT-qualified special agents to guard his girlfriend are indicative of his lack of leadership experience, judgment and humility,” O’Leary told the Times in late November.
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