FBI Director Kash Patel's girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, is suing MS NOW for a "highly offensive" portrayal in an article that doesn't mention her drinking.
According to a Wednesday report by The Daily Beast, Wilkins filed a lawsuit against MS NOW after it published an article in December that she alleged falsely smeared her reputation. However, the MS NOW article makes no mention of Wilkins actually drinking in the piece, The Daily Beast pointed out.
The article includes a claim that Patel ordered an FBI security detail to drive one of her friends home. Wilkins claimed MS NOW reporters knowingly defamed her in what she called a "hit piece," according to The Daily Beast.
The lawyers for Wilkins, who is also a country singer, claim that she is a "sober young woman who does not partake in the excess drinking culture and party scene that is typical for musicians." Her lawyers add that MS NOW depicted her as a "habitual heavy drinker," according to The Daily Beast.
In a response to MS NOW's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Wilkins' lawyers claim that MS NOW implied she was drinking. Her lawyers noted that she was in a "party town" like Nashville, and MS NOW made "serious allegations" by writing about her nights out in Nashville, according to The Daily Beast.
The "implication" by MS NOW was "clear," her lawyers argued, per The Daily Beast. The MS NOW article framed Wilkins as "present during these 'night[s] of partying,'" her lawyers added.
"She was there with her friend. She was the one who asked the agents to act," Wilkins' lawyers wrote, per The Daily Beast. "The article does not need to spell out that Ms. Wilkins was also partying and drinking—the framing of the article communicates it."
Her lawyers added, "The article's framing portrays her as 'a heavy drinker, who regularly parties late at night in Nashville, Tennessee,'" according to The Daily Beast.
MS NOW responded to her lawyers' claims by calling them "unreasonable." MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler told The Daily Beast, "We stand firmly behind MS NOW's reporting."
