Why Kash Patel's girlfriend is suing famous US podcasters

Alexis Wilkins is not a happy woman.

Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI director Kash Patel, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. Patel and Wilkins hit the headlines after it was alleged that the FBI director used a private jet to attend his girlfriend’s wrestling event in Nashville.

Now, it has emerged that Wilkins is suing a number of famous podcasters in the United States.

But what happened? What do we know?

Let’s take a closer look:

A brief look at Wilkins

First, let’s take a brief look at Wilkins.

Wilkins, 27, is a country music singer. Born on 3 November 1999, Wilkins grew up in Switzerland first and then England. Her family moved to the United States when she was young. They first settled in Arkansas before moving to Nashville so that Wilkins could pursue her music career.

Wilkins graduated with honours from Belmont University, from where she won the prestigious Williams-Murray Writing Award, Economic Critical Thinking Award, and served on the Ethics Debate Team. Wilkins has been dating Patel, 45, since January 2023. The couple first met at a conservative event. Patel was appointed director of the FBI in February 2025.

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What we know

Wilkins has been baselessly accused by some conservative commentators of serving as an Israeli spy and a ‘honeypot’ to ensnare Patel, who is in a position of power in the United States.

Wilkins has sued conservative commentator Elijah Schaffer, CEO of Rift TV, for allegedly perpetuating ‘a malicious lie’ that Wilkins is an “agent of a foreign government, assigned to manipulate and compromise the Director of the FBI.”

“Schaffer has perpetuated a malicious lie about Alexis Wilkins, falsely claiming that she—an American-born country singer—is an agent of a foreign government, assigned to manipulate and compromise the Director of the FBI,” her suit claims. It adds that Schaffer is “using this fabricated narrative as self-enriching clickbait,” and that Wilkins wants to hold Schaffer “accountable for his malicious and knowing lies.”

This came after Schaffer retweeted a post in September that claimed Wilkins was a ‘honeypot’. Wilkins in her suit claimed that though the post was ‘wordless’, the underlying message remained clear. Wilkins, who has sued Schaffer for $5 million, claims he did this to gain attention on social media.

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Schaffer, responding to the complaint, has denied calling Wilkins a ‘honeypot’. He called the suit baseless as his post made no allegations about Wilkins being a honeypot or a spy. He claimed this was a suit resulting from his previous posts against “the state of Israel” and a proxy for Patel.

Schaffer called the complaint “totally delusional and paranoid legal behaviour.” He added that it was “the legal equivalent of your romantic partner getting mad at you for cheating on her in her dream.”

Wilkins has similarly filed a defamation lawsuit in August 2025 against ex-FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, claiming he used this as ‘self-enriching clickbait’.

The suit reads, “Seraphin has maliciously lied about Alexis Wilkins, falsely asserting that she—an American-born country singer—is an agent of a foreign government, assigned to manipulate and compromise the Director of the FBI.”

Seraphin is “using this fabricated story as self-enriching clickbait,” and “Wilkins seeks to hold Defendant [Seraphin] accountable for his malicious and knowing lies,” it adds.

She has also done the same with Sam Parker, an ex-Utah Senate candidate. Wilkins filed the defamation suit against Parker on 31 October.
The suit reads, Parker has repeatedly lied about Wilkins, falsely asserting and suggesting that she—an American-born country singer—is an agent of a foreign government, assigned to manipulate and compromise the Director of the FBI.” It claims Parker used “this fabricated story as fund-raising clickbait.” The suit says Wilkins wants to hold him “accountable” for “malicious and knowing lies."

‘Shocked at horrible accusation’

Wilkins first addressed the claims on _The Megyn Kelly Show_ in July. Wilkins said she was initially shocked to be accused of “manipulating the person that I’m with, that I love. You know, that’s a horrible accusation.”

“These posts got millions of views. And I could list all the ways that this hurt me and my family, but some examples are that people start harassing you, people start doxxing your family, people start accusing you, just, aside from all the other stuff that’s hurtful, the fact that I’ve dedicated myself to this movement, to good values, to speaking children, to doing things that I thought were good that were in line with my values, but also the fact that it’s accusing me of manipulating the person that I’m with, that I love. You know, that’s a horrible accusation," Wilkins said.

Asked if she was an Israeli agent, Wilkins laughed. “Definitely not. That is a firm ‘no’ on that front,” she told the ex-Fox News host.

With inputs from agencies