The Girl With the SWAT Detail: FBI Director Kash Patel Under Fire as Girlfriend Receives Elite Security Cover

FBI Director Kash Patel faces mounting criticism following revelations that his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, has been assigned an FBI security detail comprised of elite SWAT team members—an unprecedented arrangement that experts say diverts critical law enforcement resources while the director simultaneously denies protection to threatened Democratic lawmakers.

SWAT Team Reassigned to Nashville

MS NOW first reported Monday that Wilkins, 27, is being protected by agents from the FBI’s SWAT team based in the Nashville field office, where she lives and works. The arrangement marks the first known instance of a girlfriend of a high-ranking FBI official receiving government-staffed security protection while not sharing a residence with their partner.

“SWAT team agents on a detail with Wilkins would presumably be unable to respond or delayed in responding to crises that might develop in their territory, such as mass shootings or terror attacks,” sources told MS NOW, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.

Former senior FBI agent Christopher O’Leary told the outlet there is “no legitimate justification for this. This is a clear abuse of position and misuse of government resources. She is not his spouse, does not live in the same house or even in the same city.”

FBI Cites Death Threats

The FBI defended the decision in a statement to NBC News. “Ms. Wilkins is receiving a protective detail because she has faced hundreds of credible death threats related to her relationship with Director Patel, whom she has been dating for three years,” an FBI spokesperson said. “Out of respect for her safety, we will not be providing additional details.”

Patel defended himself on social media, dismissing coverage as “noise from uninformed internet anarchists and the fake news.” He wrote: “I’ve always said—criticize me all you want. But going after the people doing great work, my personal life, or those around me is a total disgrace.”

Wilkins has indeed faced harassment, posting screenshots on Instagram showing messages including “Can’t wait to celebrate your death, especially if I’m the one causing it” and “someone kidnap her.” She has also been the target of conspiracy theories claiming she is an Israeli intelligence agent working as a “honeypot” to compromise Patel—accusations she has rejected as “categorically false” in multiple defamation lawsuits filed in recent weeks.

Democrats Point to Double Standard

The security detail for Wilkins has sparked outrage among Democratic lawmakers who say they have been denied similar protection despite receiving specific threats.

“I don’t want anything to happen to @FBIDirectorKash or his girlfriend. Protect her if she’s threatened,” Representative Eric Swalwell of California wrote on X. “It’s just F’d up that he REFUSES to protect me and my kids from MULTIPLE specific death threats. Same for other Dem colleagues. Can only conclude he wants us dead.”

The controversy carries added weight given that the Trump administration terminated Secret Service protection for former national security adviser John Bolton, who became a vocal Trump critic. The Justice Department charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with plotting to assassinate Bolton in 2022.

Private Jet Controversy

The security detail revelation follows recent criticism over Patel’s use of a $60 million FBI jet to attend a Real American Freestyle wrestling event at Penn State in October, where Wilkins performed the national anthem. Flight tracking sites recorded the government aircraft traveling to State College on the date of the event.

The incident drew particular scrutiny because Patel had previously criticized his predecessor, Christopher Wray, for personal use of FBI aircraft. “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 a 2023 podcast, referring to Wray as a “government gangster.” On The Glenn Beck Podcast in late 2024, Patel suggested grounding the plane, noting it costs “$15,000 every time it takes off.”

While FBI directors are legally required to use government aircraft for all travel to maintain secure communications and respond quickly to emergencies, they must reimburse the government at commercial flight rates for personal trips. Questions remain about whether Patel has properly reimbursed taxpayers for his Nashville flights.

Patel defended himself on social media, dismissing coverage as “noise from uninformed internet anarchists and the fake news.” He wrote: “I’ve always said—criticize me all you want. But going after the people doing great work, my personal life, or those around me is a total disgrace.”

Broader Leadership Concerns

The controversies come amid a turbulent tenure for Patel, who was confirmed as FBI director in February with support from 51 of the Senate’s 53 Republicans. His leadership has faced scrutiny on multiple fronts:

Agent Purges: The FBI Agents Association, which represents 14,000 agents including over 90% of active agents, issued a scathing rebuke in early November calling Patel’s firings and reinstatements of agents “erratic and arbitrary retribution.” According to Axios, the association said “Director Patel has disregarded the law and launched a campaign of erratic and arbitrary retribution.”

Three former senior FBI officials filed a lawsuit in September alleging that Patel told acting FBI director Brian Driscoll he needed to fire agents who worked on investigations of Trump “in order to keep his own job,” according to CNN’s reporting on the complaint. The lawsuit states that “Patel not only acted unlawfully but deliberately chose to prioritize politicizing the FBI over protecting the American people.”

Charlie Kirk Investigation: Following the September assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Patel prematurely announced on social media that the FBI had a “subject” in custody—only to walk back the statement two hours later when Utah officials announced the shooter was still at large. CNN reported that Patel later “lashed out at agents during an intense and expletive-ridden virtual video meeting,” according to sources familiar with the matter.

After the suspect’s eventual arrest, conservative activist Christopher Rufo questioned whether Patel was “the right man to run the FBI,” writing on X: “I’ve been on the phone the last few days with many conservative leaders, all of whom wholeheartedly support the Trump Administration and none of whom are confident that the current structure of the FBI is up to this task.”

International Relations: The New York Times reported in November that at a secret May gathering south of London, the head of Britain’s MI5 asked Patel to protect the job of an FBI agent based in London who handled high-tech surveillance tools. Patel allegedly responded he couldn’t intervene because the agent had worked on Trump-related cases. The Times noted this was “a jarring introduction to Mr. Patel’s leadership style for British officials” and reported that “Mr. Patel’s inexperience, his dismissals of top F.B.I. officials and his shift of bureau resources from thwarting spies and terrorism have heightened concerns among the other Five Eyes nations that the bureau is adrift.”

Political Backlash

Despite the growing controversies, President Trump has publicly supported Patel. “I am very proud of the FBI. Kash—and everyone else—they have done a great job,” Trump told Fox News Digital following the Kirk investigation.

However, questions continue to mount about Patel’s management of the bureau. Grace Chong, chief financial officer of Bannon’s War Room podcast, questioned the Wilkins security arrangement on X: “Is she considered Kash’s spouse? Is that why she’s getting protection because if not then why are we paying for this?”

Patel, who maintains his legal residence in Las Vegas while splitting time between there and Washington, D.C., has increasingly faced scrutiny over whether his personal relationships and lifestyle are influencing his stewardship of bureau resources at the expense of the FBI’s core mission.

As the controversy continues to unfold, the unprecedented nature of the security arrangement for Wilkins—combined with the broader pattern of controversies during Patel’s tenure—has raised fundamental questions about accountability and the appropriate use of federal law enforcement resources.

This story, conceptualized and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk, was aggregated by AI from several news reports.