Kash Patel's girlfriend drew a torrent of mockery online after singing the national anthem at President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair on Wednesday night, with one viewer asking police to investigate a "murder" of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Alexis Wilkins, 27, a Nashville-based aspiring country singer who began dating the 46-year-old FBI director in early 2023, performed the anthem before a sparse crowd on the National Mall, according to The Daily Beast. She announced the gig just one day before the event, and her top track on Spotify has about 520,000 streams, per Newsweek.
The crowd on the ground wasn't exactly buzzing.
"Oh, no… country music?" one attendee told CNN when asked if she was looking forward to the set. "Well, I think the Army band, and the choirs, they're gonna be really good," the woman added.
Online, the verdict was harsher. "She sounds like A DEAD CAT!!!!!" one commenter wrote, according to the. "Hello, D.C. police. I'd like to report a murder," another posted. "Yes, someone has viciously murdered the national anthem."
A fifth commenter invoked the lip-sync duo that bailed on the fair days earlier: "Wasn't Milli Vanilli available?" Milli Vanilli's Fab Morvan told CNN on June 1 that he was withdrawing because the event had "turned into a circus."
Nepotism accusations ensued.
"Does having the FBI director's girlfriend getting paid by the taxpayers to perform violate federal ethics laws?" right-wing reporter Sara Higdon posted.
Wilkins fired back in a lengthy social media post, insisting she had been "invited to sing this anthem on my own accord" and was not "accepting payment for this great honor." She also rejected the taxpayer-funded framing.
Veteran national security journalist Marcy Wheeler, who runs the independent site emptywheel.net, was less diplomatic. "BREAKING: Because Trump can't get real stars, the FBI Director's side piece gets a slot!!! Goddess Bless America!" she posted on X.
Matthew Sitman, co-host of the Know Your Enemy podcast and an associate editor at Commonweal, offered a more deadpan take, writing on X: "When I heard Vanilla Ice wouldn't be participating, I had my fingers crossed she'd step in! It's a July 4 miracle" — a jab at the threadbare lineup Trump has been left with after the wave of dropouts.
NOTUS has reported that the National Park Foundation, the legal home of Trump's Freedom 250 organization, has received nearly $80 million in federal grants tied to the 250th celebration. The bipartisan America250 commission established by Congress, by contrast, has told lawmakers it faces a $100 million funding shortfall.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, reporting live from the Mall, offered a more charitable take, telling Anderson Cooper that Wilkins' performance "seemed to go down pretty well here."
Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, performs the national anthem at the kickoff of the Great American State Fair. pic.twitter.com/02JkEm85sX
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 25, 2026
