A new report suggests that the FBI director Kashi Patel‘s girlfriend also received many of the same benefits and privileges as his position.The FBI director assigns a full-time SWAT team to protect his girlfriend, an aspiring country music singer Alexis WilkinsThe 27-year-old used the bureau’s resources to accompany her on trips, haircuts and performances, The Daily Beast reported, citing The New York Times.
Wilkins was assigned a security detail of four agents and two vehicles, the report said. The bureau chief’s partners typically do not receive their own personal security details, especially if they live in different cities.Wilkins was protected by SWAT agents, who the FBI said were assigned to perform “extremely high-risk situations” such as “special assignments, dangerous arrests, [or] A dignitary in need of protection. “FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told the New York Times that Wilkins had received death threats because of his relationship with Patel and needed protection.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, you have to keep yourself safe,” Christopher O’Leary, the former senior director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, told The New York Times. “The inappropriateness of this approach cannot be overstated.”Wilkin was handed extensive bureau benefits following Patel’s controversial trip to Italy for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Patel was criticized for using the agency’s plane to fly to the Olympics and watch the men’s ice hockey gold medal game. While the bureau maintains that Patel was in Italy on business, he was photographed in the U.S. locker room after the U.S. win.“To the media who care so much – yes, I love America and I was so humbled when my friend, the newly minted gold medalist on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the kids,” Patel wrote on X in response to the criticism.The Olympic trip isn’t the first time Patel has gotten into trouble for using a private jet. He had previously been heavily criticized for using an FBI plane to take him to hockey games and visit Wilkins in Nashville.Before taking over, Patel blasted his predecessor, Christopher A. Wray, for using the bureau’s private jet.“I’m just saying Chris Ray doesn’t need a government-funded G5 jet to go on vacation,” Patel said in 2023. “Maybe we’ll ground the plane. $15,000 per flight. Just a thought.”Meanwhile, neither the FBI nor local law enforcement are making much progress in finding 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing for more than three weeks. “Today” host Savannah Guthrie recently announced that the family will be adding a reward for the mother’s return.
