The New York Times says the FBI investigated whether one of its reporters, Elizabeth Williamson, violated laws against stalking after she wrote a story nearly two months ago about how federal agents had been assigned to protect and give rides to FBI Director Kash Patel's girlfriend.
The FBI said Wednesday that its agents interviewed Patel's girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, when she expressed concern about a death threat received after Williamson's article was published, but took no further action.
The Times, in an article posted online Wednesday, said that the FBI looked on federal databases for information about Williamson and recommended pursuing it further, but was blocked by the Justice Department.
The newspaper said it learned about all of this only through a tip given to reporter Michael S. Schmidt. The paper called the action alarming.
“The FBI's attempt to criminalize routine reporting is a blatant violation of Elizabeth's First Amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions,” said Joseph Kahn, the newspaper's executive editor. “It's alarming. It's unconstitutional. And it's wrong.”
It's not clear whether The Times has any recourse other than asking a federal inspector general to review whether the actions were improper.
Williamson briefly interviewed Wilkins when reporting, but the singer insisted the conversation be off the record. The reporter also spoke to people who knew Wilkins or had worked with her, the newspaper said.
The original piece, published on Feb. 28, looked at the use of federal officials called upon to perform personal duties for an administration figure. She wrote that Patel had assigned four agents to protect Wilkins full time, and that they had ferried her to appearances in Britain, Illinois and Nashville.
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson, in a statement posted on social media, said that while investigators “were concerned about how the aggressive reporting techniques crossed lines of stalking, no further action regarding Williamson or the reporting was ever pursued by the FBI.”
Patel hasn't been reluctant to fight back against reporting that displeases him. On Monday, he filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic for its article that discussed allegations about his excessive drinking and mismanagement at the law enforcement agency.
