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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.
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