The New York Times said the Federal Bureau of Investigation “began investigating” its reporter Elizabeth Williamson after she wrote a story involving FBI director Kash Patel titled “Patel’s girlfriend seeks fame and fortune, escorted by an FBI SWAT team.”
Times executive editor Joe Kahn called the probe an “alarming” attempt by the FBI to “criminalize routine reporting.”
And the Times only learned about it through a confidential source who tipped off Williamson’s colleague Michael Schmidt. He published a story about it on Wednesday night, prompting First Amendment groups to denounce the FBI inquiry.
Clayton Weimers, North America director for Reporters Without Borders, said, “In the same week that Kash Patel filed a flimsy lawsuit against the Atlantic for a story he didn’t like, we also learned that his FBI desperately combed through its databases to find dirt on a New York Times journalist whose reporting embarrassed him.”
“This ongoing, un-American harassment of journalists eerily echoes the Bureau’s darkest days,” Weimers said. “It’s time for Patel to cash out and resign.”
Patel has been on the defensive since The Atlantic last week published allegations of his “excessive drinking and unexplained absences.” He denied the claims and is suing The Atlantic for defamation.
Amid speculation that his job might be in jeopardy, he has appeared on Fox News repeatedly, perhaps trying to appeal to President Donald Trump by appearing on Trump’s favorite TV shows.
In a Wednesday night appearance on “Hannity,” he called Williamson’s February 28 story “baseless” and then pivoted to Trump praise.
The FBI inquiry didn’t go far, but agents still “combed through the bureau’s databases” for info on Williamson, according to Schmidt’s source. Then “FBI agents recommended moving forward with a preliminary investigation,” but apparently ran into “obstacles at the Justice Department, where officials determined there was no legal basis to proceed,” he reported.
In response to the Times, the FBI denied that Williamson was “personally investigated” but confirmed the broad contours of the reporting, insisting that the issue was a death threat case against Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins.
“Here’s what actually happened: A man threatened to have Alexis Wilkins’s face ‘canoed by an assault rifle’ after reading Williamson’s article,” Erica Knight, a PR strategist who is close to Patel, wrote on X.
“FBI agents interviewed Alexis about the threat. They asked her about Williamson because Williamson’s reporting is what set the defendant off. That is basic victim interview work in a threat case,” Knight wrote.
In his appearance on Fox, Patel said the person who made the death threat has been arrested and charged.
An FBI spokesperson said that investigators “were concerned about how the aggressive reporting techniques crossed lines of stalking,” while adding, “no further action regarding Williamson or the reporting was ever pursued by the FBI.”
Talk of “stalking,” which is a federal crime, raised concerns among Times editors and lawyers. The newspaper said Williamson had a single phone call with Wilkins, and then some emails back and forth, which is an ordinary reporting practice.
Williamson also contacted numerous associates of Wilkins – which is also perfectly normal.
“It’s just unimaginable that anyone would think there’s a federal crime involved in that,” a legal source familiar with the matter told CNN.
But the “stalking” reference fits into a pattern that journalists have noticed in recent years, with subjects of unflattering news stories claiming that reporters stalked them or their loved ones.
Press freedom advocates said the FBI conduct described by the Times amounted to an abuse of power.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee drew attention to the Times story, asking Patel in a post on X, “exactly what ‘FBI databases’ are you using to search for information about the journalist who dared to write a story about your girlfriend and your use of a full-time FBI SWAT team to drive her around and guard her?”
Kahn wrote in an internal memo obtained by CNN that while “we have no reason to believe that this is a widespread practice” by the FBI, “it marks an escalation of tactics to chill and intimidate reporters who reveal information that’s unflattering to the administration.”
“Most concerningly, it is an attempt to criminalize routine newsgathering — in this case interviewing people, developing sources, going to public events, giving the subject opportunities to respond,” Kahn wrote. “We will continue to cover this administration fully and fairly, as we always do. And we support Elizabeth and her reporting unequivocally.”
