Kash Patel's Girlfriend Seeks Fame and Fortune, Escorted by an F.B.I. SWAT Team [View all]

Former F.B.I. officials say Mr. Patel beefed up field office staffing near his girlfriend in Nashville and ordered a team to ferry her on errands and to events.

You may never have heard of Alexis Wilkins, but she is one of the best-protected country music singers in the United States. F.B.I. tactical agents have ferried her to a resort in Britain before a dinner at Windsor Castle and to an appointment at a hair salon in Nashville. Last April, agents in two SUVs stood guard outside a senior center in Ronald Reagan’s boyhood home of Dixon, Ill., while she sang for a few dozen young conservatives.

Ms. Wilkins, 27, is the girlfriend of Kash Patel, President Trump’s 46-year-old F.B.I. director, whose personal use of government jets and F.B.I. agents for himself and Ms. Wilkins has led to growing questions even inside the Trump administration.

“When Kash got confirmed, life changed for her,” said Dianna Muller, the founder of the group Women for Gun Rights, which briefly employed Ms. Wilkins as a spokeswoman.

To an extent not previously reported, Ms. Wilkins is escorted in her travels by Special Weapons and Tactics team members drawn from F.B.I. field offices around the country. SWAT teams are chiefly trained to arrest violent criminals, free hostages and thwart terrorists. But Mr. Patel’s demand that rotating SWAT teams provide his girlfriend with security for singing appearances, personal engagements and errands is unprecedented in the F.B.I., former agents said.

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