Alexis Wilkins’ – Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, filed a federal defamation lawsuit against MS NOW and reporters Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian, challenging an article published in December that described Patel ordering her security escorting an into
The story began with a December article—then landed in federal court.
Alexis Wilkins. the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel. filed a defamation lawsuit against MS NOW and reporters Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian. The complaint targets reporting that cited unnamed sources. describing Patel as having “ordered that the security detail protecting his girlfriend escort one of her allegedly inebriated friends home after a night of partying in Nashville.”.
Wilkins’ complaint. filed in Tennessee. says the article made claims that were not just inaccurate. but damaging in a way that speaks directly to her reputation. Her lawyers allege the piece “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 suit accuses the defendants of intent or indifference to the truth. Wilkins’ lawyers allege the defendants “published these lies knowing they were false or with reckless disregard for the truth.” That wording matters because it tracks the “actual malice” standard that public-figure plaintiffs must meet to win defamation claims under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1964 ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan.
For years, attempts have continued—without success—to get the justices to reconsider Sullivan. The complaint notes that Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch have expressed interest in doing so, but review requires four justices to grant review of a petition.
Wilkins’ argument then pivots. Her lawyers say she does not need to meet the “actual malice” standard at all because. in their view. she “is not a public figure.” Under their framing. she only needs to show negligence. “The fact that she is in a relationship with Director Patel does not promote her to the status of public figure or excuse journalists from exercising ordinary care. Neither should false allegations of her benefitting from misappropriated FBI resources,” her attorneys wrote in the complaint.
At this stage. what’s on trial is not only what was written. but what standard will decide whether it can stand—and whether the alleged chain of responsibility extends from her supposed request to Patel’s alleged order to the existence. or non-existence. of a security detail “at the time” described by the reporting.
The dispute, rooted in one December article and its unnamed sources, now moves forward through the federal process in Tennessee—where the central questions will be whether the claims were false and, if so, what level of blame the law requires the plaintiff to prove.
Alexis Wilkins Kash Patel MS NOW Carol Leonnig Ken Dilanian defamation lawsuit FBI director New York Times v. Sullivan actual malice Nashville security detail