Kash Patel, 45, blew up after his taxpayer-funded protection detail ditched his girlfriend at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Atlanta.
The FBI director assigned an entire SWAT team from the bureau’s Atlanta field office to shadow his 27-year-old girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, at the conference, The New York Times reported Sunday. Both current and former FBI officials told the outlet that Wilkins’ extensive—and unusually frequent—taxpayer-funded SWAT security, including at the conference where she performed the “Star-Spangled Banner,” was “highly unusual.”
“The assignment of SWAT-qualified special agents to guard his girlfriend are indicative of his lack of leadership experience, judgment and humility,” Christopher O’Leary, a former Marine and FBI agent who led a team that conducted “high-risk missions,” told the Times.
SWAT team members left their posts at the April event after determining that Wilkins, a country singer-hopeful, was safe and secure—igniting Patel’s fury.
The former MAGA podcaster “ripped” into the SWAT team’s commander for leaving his girlfriend unprotected and slammed it as a “failure” of the chain of command, the Times reported.
This isn’t the first time Patel’s protective-boyfriend tactics have come under scrutiny. Just last week, MS Now reported that the FBI director reallocated officers from the bureau’s Nashville SWAT team—Wilkins’ hometown—to protect her.
Officials told MS Now that, to their knowledge, Patel’s move to assign his girlfriend her own protective detail is unprecedented.
They added that the reallocation could hinder agents’ ability to respond to public safety emergencies, including mass shootings and terror threats, within the Nashville field office’s jurisdiction.
Bureau officials also told the Times that agents from the tactical team in Salt Lake City were ordered to provide a protective detail for Wilkins at an event in September—despite having just worked long hours amid the nearby killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“There is no legitimate justification for this. This is a clear abuse of position and misuse of government resources,” O’Leary told MS Now earlier this month. “She is not his spouse, does not live in the same house or even in the same city.”
Wilkins defended her robust protective detail by posting on social media a series of threats she has received—some targeting both her and Patel. “A morning in my DMs,” she wrote on Nov. 17 alongside a screenshot of a message that read: “Can’t wait to celebrate your death, especially if I’m the one causing it.” Others included “you need to touch a bullet” and “someone kidnap her.”
But others have been quick to call out what they see as hypocrisy in Patel’s priorities. “I don’t want anything to happen to [Patel] or his girlfriend,” Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell wrote in an X post that has racked up more than 1.7 million views since Monday morning. “Protect her if she’s threatened.”
I don’t want anything to happen to @FBIDirectorKash or his girlfriend. Protect her if she’s threatened.
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. https://t.co/nI4etRdLVi— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 17, 2025
“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,” the California lawmaker added. “Can only conclude he wants us dead.”
Patel—dubbed “Keystone Kash” for his bumbling oversight of several high-profile investigations—is known for cashing in on the perks of his government post. The director has been embroiled in scandal since October, when reports revealed he took a $60 million government jet to watch Wilkins perform, thrusting his luxurious lifestyle into the spotlight.
Just last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Patel then flew to a luxury hunting resort in Texas during the record-breaking government shutdown.
The allegations come after Patel was a particularly vocal critic of former FBI director Chris Wray for improper use of government planes for personal reasons.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the FBI and Wilkins for comment. A bureau spokesperson has previously told the Daily Beast, “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. Out of respect for her safety, we will not be providing additional details.”
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