(Ken Silva, Headline USA) FBI Director Kashyap Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, is being protected by agents on the bureau’s Nashville SWAT team, according to MS NOW, formerly known as MSNBC.
“Patel’s country music performer girlfriend currently enjoys the protection of an FBI security detail to shield her from potential threats, prompting concerns that the arrangement may delay law enforcement from responding to other incidents,” MS NOW reported Monday, citing two anonymous sources.
“People familiar with FBI security protocols said they were unaware of any instance in which the girlfriends of top FBI officials received government-staffed security details. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray’s wife Helen received a security detail; she lived with Wray in their home in Atlanta.”
RAF 002 🇺🇸👊🏼🤼🫶🏼 pic.twitter.com/jTgGhd7jbN
— Alexis Wilkins (@AlexisWilkins) October 26, 2025
MS Now’s sources said the arrangement risks delaying the FBI Nashville office’s response to mass shootings or terror attacks. The FBI did not respond to the publication’s request for comment.
The Monday report is the latest PR blow for Patel, who has been under heavy criticism for using the FBI’s gulfstream jet for personal reasons during the government shutdown, when agents weren’t getting paid. Patel’s trips included seeing Wilkins sing the National Anthem at a wrestling match in Pennsylvania last week, and visiting a hunting resort called Boondoggle Ranch in Texas a week later.
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson attempted to downplay his boss’s use of the FBI jet, posting on Twitter/X that Patel is forced to use a government plane even when flying for personal reasons. Williamson also said Patel pays a reimbursement in advance for his flights, as per government rules.
What's "disingenuous and dumb" is saying that Kashyap pays reimbursement for his flights when he only has to pay commercial fare. The FBI jet costs exponentially more than that. https://t.co/5UGrtvMnih pic.twitter.com/qa8EMQhEzo
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 2, 2025
However, Patel is only required to pay the equivalent of commercial fare for his flights. The cost of operating FBI jets is exponentially more than that. For example, a Government Accountability Office report found in 2013 that then-Attorney General Eric Holder paid $420.90 for a flight that cost the taxpayers $15,894.
Republicans, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, frequently railed against former FBI Director Chris Wray’s use of the FBI jet. So did Patel himself.
“I want to ground Chris Wray’s private jet travel that he pays for with taxpayer dollars to hop around the country,” Patel said in 2023.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
