FBI Director Kash Patel made a shocking decision no one expected, especially his girlfriend. The top brass at the FBI, and country singer Alexis Wilkins, announced their engagement on Sunday, sharing the news publicly on social media platform X. The couple has been together since early 2023.
Wilkins, 27, broke the news with a post that read, “Went and got the law involved,” accompanied by ring and heart emojis, and included a photo showing her wearing an engagement ring. Patel, 46, responded from his personal account with the same emojis.
Kash Patel’s Relationship Under Congressional Scrutiny
The Kash Patel engagement announcement comes as the FBI director has faced criticism from Democratic lawmakers over his use of government-owned aircraft for private travel, including trips to sporting events attended by Wilkins. Those controversies have drawn sustained attention to the couple’s relationship since Patel took the bureau’s top post.
Wilkins is a country music singer who has also appeared in a number of television shows and movies. According to Kash Patel and Alexis Wilkins engagement, the couple arrived together at the White House ahead of the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn in June.
Wilkins’ Defamation Lawsuit and Upcoming Trial
Wilkins filed a lawsuit in May against MSNBC reporters Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian, alleging they defamed her in a December report. That report claimed Patel directed a security detail to escort one of Wilkins’ friends home after a night of drinking in Nashville.
Lawyers for Wilkins disputed those claims in a 16-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. “Defendants falsely asserted that Ms. Wilkins demanded, and Director Patel ordered, that federal agents assigned to her security detail, which did not even exist at the time, escort an intoxicated friend home after a ‘night of partying,'” the complaint states. It also alleged the reporters “falsely portrayed Ms. Wilkins as being intoxicated even knowing that she does not drink.”
Wilkins sought more than $75,000 in damages. Attorneys for Versant, the parent company of the media outlet, filed a motion to move the case to federal court in Washington, D.C., and argued Wilkins has not adequately supported her defamation claims.
U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson, a Trump appointee in the Middle District of Tennessee, scheduled a jury trial in the case for May 2028, giving the legal dispute a long runway ahead as the newly engaged couple steps further into public life.
