“A Total Disgrace” – FBI Director Kash Patel Responds To Travel Backlash Surrounding His Country Music Artist Girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins

FBI Director Kash Patel took to social media yesterday to respond to backlash surrounding his country music artist girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins.

If the name Alexis Wilkins sounds familiar, there’s a good chance you know her in one of three ways. First, she’s a country music artist that has released songs like “Grit” and “Stand” that have very patriotic messaging behind them. Second, she’s a political commentator and former Capitol Hill press secretary (for Representative Abe Hamadeh).

Don’t know her from either of those things? Well then, you likely know her name because she’s the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel.

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And now the two find themselves in the news because FBI Director Kash Patel has come under fire for allegedly using his FBI jet to fly to a Real American Freestyle wrestling event on October 25 where his girlfriend, country music artist Alexis Wilkins, was performing. Following the event, the jet was tracked flying to Nashville, Tennessee – where Wilkins lives (she also spends a lot of time in Washington D.C.).

Once Patel face criticism publicly, the FBI jet was made untraceable on flight tracking sights like Flight Aware.

The FBI Director finally addressed all of the noise around his travel activity and alleged misuse of government funds on X (formerly Twitter), where Patel provided this statement to those that were calling out both him, and Alexis Wilkins:

“I’ve always said — criticize me all you want. But going after the people doing great work, my personal life, or those around me is a total disgrace. The disgustingly baseless attacks against Alexis — a true patriot and the woman I’m proud to call my partner in life — are beyond pathetic. She is a rock-solid conservative and a country music sensation who has done more for this nation than most will in ten lifetimes.

I’m so blessed she’s in my life. Attacking her isn’t just wrong — it’s cowardly and jeopardizes our safety. My love of family will always be my cornerstone, and you will never tear that down or keep me from them. I and this FBI will stay laser-focused on our mission and continue the reform we promised — rebuilding this Bureau from the ground up.”

The community note attached to that statement from Patel clarified that most people aren’t necessarily attacking his girlfriend, but rather the fact that he’s allegedly used government funds to fly to and from her concerts. And this all comes after Patel has a) fired an individual (FBI official Steven Palmer) who pointed out his potential misuse of government funding and b) criticized federal employees for using taxpayer dollars for personal matters in the past.

All in all, it seems like a big time mess, but Kash Patel won’t stand for people coming after his significant other. That being said, it can be difficult to keep your private life private when both parties in the relationship are high-profile individuals… and flight records are trackable online. At the same time, the man is the director of the FBI, he travels with Secret Service protection… it’s not like can just hop on a Delta flight whenever he wants.

Ben Williamson, Assistant Director for Public Affairs at the FBI, clarified a number of details regarding the flights, proving once again, why this is just another distraction in the American political system. After calling these accusations “disingenuous and dumb,” he clarified that Kash is required to fly on government planes for security reason, including secure communications, and that he pays a reimbursement in advance. Williamson’s also notes how infrequent Kash actually travels in comparison to previous FBI directors, and how much his FBI has worked to cut costs.

Here’s the full post:

“Criticisms like this of Director Patel’s travel are disingenuous and dumb – so for the few people who give a rip about the below article see below.

– FBI Directors are “required use travelers” under federal regulations – meaning they are mandated by Congress to travel on a government plane even on personal travel. They’re actually barred from flying commercial. The reason for this is to maintain access to secure communications equipment in the event of an emergency.

– On personal travel, the Director pays a reimbursement in advance – strictly following OMB rules.

– This FBI has taken steps to dramatically reduce costs of Director travel, both official and personal. For example, when Kash flies, he chooses to take a government airfield vs. airports like DCA, because the government option is about 2.5x cheaper. This is a choice that ends up saving millions in the long haul.

-His predecessors did not do this. Chris Wray for example took 772 trips and over 2/3 of those were out of DCA, the DCA trips costing $3.9 million ($2.2 million more expensive than government airfield would’ve been)

-James Comey took nearly 500 trips and flew out of DCA for nearly half of those – the DCA half costing over $1.8 million, which would’ve been $1 million cheaper had he made the same choice Director Patel does. So spare me.

– Kash himself has significantly limited personal travel – but he’s allowed to take personal time on occasion to see family, friends or his longtime girlfriend. He doesn’t do it often. He works far more full weekends than he does otherwise. And maybe most importantly – ask anyone who works for him, he’s on duty 24/7 regardless.

– Lastly, anyone engaging in bad faith whining about this need look no further than the results the Patel/Bongino FBI continues to deliver in 2025. 29,000 arrests, an over 100% increase from year before. 6,000 illegal firearms off the streets, increase. 5,000 child victims located, over 35% increase. 1,600 kg of fentanyl off the streets, up 25%. 300 human traffickers arrested, up 10%.

This FBI is delivering and it’s because of a great team working incredibly hard with Kash Patel and Dan Bongino at the helm. We have zero time for people who peddle trash because they have nothing better to do — or, even better, because the Russian collusion hoax they spent years writing about failed in their end goal. A real shame.”

Criticisms like this of Director Patel’s travel are disingenuous and dumb – so for the few people who give a rip about the below article see below.

– FBI Directors are “required use travelers” under federal regulations – meaning they are mandated by Congress to travel on a… https://t.co/CadNCaoHXU

— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) October 30, 2025

The post “A Total Disgrace” – FBI Director Kash Patel Responds To Travel Backlash Surrounding His Country Music Artist Girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins first appeared on Whiskey Riff.