'No legitimate justification' for FBI director’s girlfriend’s SWAT detail: ex-senior agent
Yuba County Sheriff's Department SWAT prepares to breach a building during an active shooter exercise Aug. 17, 2016, at Beale Air Force Base, California. Beale personnel and Yuba County SWAT worked cohesively to extract individuals on lockdown and eliminate the simulated threat. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Ramon A. Adelan)
MS NOW's Ken Dilanian and Carol Leonnig report that FBI Director Kash Patel's girlfriend's government security detail is "prompting concerns" and could hinder response to other incidents.
They report that Alexis Wilkins, Patel’s girlfriend, has "a security detail made up of elite FBI agents usually assigned to a SWAT team in the FBI field office in Nashville, where Wilkins spends time for her work."
Sources familiar with FBI protocol tell Dilanian and Leonnig that they were "unaware of any instance in which the girlfriends of top FBI officials received government-staffed security details," noting that former FBI Director Christopher Wray’s wife Helen received a security detail because she lives with Wray in their home in Atlanta.
The anonymous sources tell the reporters that "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."
This latest development comes as Patel faces scrutiny amid reports that he had flown on the FBI’s $60 million government jet last month to see Wilkins perform the national anthem at a wrestling event in Pennsylvania.
In 2023, "Patel had previously slammed then-FBI Director Wray for his use of the FBI jet for personal travel," they report.
Patel has also been blasted for firing "seasoned FBI leaders without a legal basis and losing critical expertise," they explain.
Wilkins' security detail has drawn scorn from former FBI agents like Christopher O’Leary, a former senior FBI agent and MS NOW law enforcement contributor.
“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 the same city," Leary says.
“I would also add that this comes at a time when security details were stripped from people who are under threat from IRGC-QF,” Leary adds, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
