FBI Director Kash Patel's own agency members raised alarms after an investigation was launched into a New York Times journalist who wrote a story that was critical of his girlfriend, country music singer Alexis Wilkins.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Trump's FBI began investigating Times reporter Elizabeth Williamson after she published a story detailing how Wilkins was regularly escorted by FBI security, and raised questions about Patel's use of FBI jets for personal travel. Wilkins criticized the reporting and called Williamson a "stalker" on X.
The Times said Williamson had one off-the-record phone call with Wilkins herself during her reporting process. Williamson noted in her story that Wilkins "declined to be interviewed" for the story.
Williamson also spoke with several people in Wilkins' orbit for the story and exchanged emails with Wilkins before it ran, according to the NYT.
That apparently wasn't enough for Wilkins or Patel.
"Agents interviewed the girlfriend, queried databases for information on the reporter, Elizabeth Williamson, and recommended moving forward to determine whether Ms. Williamson broke federal stalking laws, the person said," according to the NYT report.
"Those actions prompted concerns among some Justice Department officials who saw the inquiry as retaliation for an article that Mr. Patel and his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, did not like, and who determined there was no legal basis to proceed with the investigation, according to the person briefed on the matter," it added. The investigation went no further.
