FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson tells MS NOW the reported events "did not happen"
Ben WilliamsonFBI spokesperson, in a statement quoted by MS NOW
In MS NOW's December 5, 2025 article, FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson responded to the reported incidents by saying "This is made up and did not happen". The article introduces the quotation by saying he broadly disputed that such events took place. The first version of the article said he did not answer questions about the accounts but broadly denied that the events took place.
Responding to
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told MS NOW "This is made up and did not happen," and wrote on X on December 5, 2025 that those involved told him it did not happen and that he found no corroboration or record of it.
“This is made up and did not happen”
Reporting
Archived source
Archived source
Where this statement fits
Did FBI Director Kash Patel order the security detail protecting Alexis Wilkins to drive a friend home, as MS NOW reported?
On December 5, 2025, MS NOW reported, citing three unnamed people with knowledge, that FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the security detail protecting Alexis Wilkins to escort a friend of hers home after what the article calls a night of partying in Nashville, on more than one occasion. FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told MS NOW "This is made up and did not happen." Wilkins sued Versant Media Group, which does business as MS NOW, and two reporters for defamation on May 29, 2026, and her complaint says the events did not occur and that she did not have a security detail at the time. MS NOW's president says the network stands behind its reporting. As of October 5, 2026, we found no court ruling on whether the report was accurate or on the defendants' motion to dismiss or transfer (the CourtListener copy of the docket was last updated September 15, 2026), and we did not find a named witness who says on the record that the reported events occurred.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
MS NOW's report by Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian. It attributes the account to three unnamed people with knowledge, who it says were "granted anonymity to discuss nonpublic matters". It gives no date for the incidents beyond "this spring", no name for the friend and no description of the sources. It quotes FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson, and one sentence introducing his quotation was changed on December 5, 2025 (see the two archived captures). The text we cite is the live version, and we found no correction note on it as of October 5, 2026. More than half of the article concerns other criticism of Patel and is not part of this case.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Archived source
About this source
An Internet Archive capture of the MS NOW article taken at 11:58 UTC (6:58 AM EST) on December 5, 2025. It shows the original sentence on the FBI's response. Williamson's own post of 17:45 UTC that day, which carries a screenshot of this wording, says the claim that he did not answer questions was incorrect and "has since been removed". The capture taken at 15:39 UTC shows the revised sentence (see the next source).
Archived source
About this source
An Internet Archive capture of the MS NOW article taken at 15:39 UTC (10:39 AM EST) on December 5, 2025. It is the earliest capture we read that carries the revised sentence, which is also the wording on the live page. The change falls between this capture and the 11:58 UTC capture. We found no correction note attached to the article in either capture or on the live page.
Before the quotation
Williamson's later post on X says he received the allegation on "Tuesday" and told the reporter it sounded made up, and the complaint dates the reporter's approach to December 2, 2025. The article had reported that three unnamed people with knowledge said Patel ordered the detail to escort a friend of Wilkins home.
After the quotation
Williamson posted a longer denial on X at 12:43 UTC the same day and wrote in a reply at 17:45 UTC that the article's earlier claim that he did not answer questions was incorrect. The sentence introducing his quotation had changed by 15:39 UTC. As of October 5, 2026, we did not find a correction note on the article.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is the proposition that, on at least one occasion, FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the FBI agents assigned to protect Alexis Wilkins to escort or drive a friend of hers home, as MS NOW reported on December 5, 2025. Williamson says the reported events "did not happen", which is an explicit statement that the reported conduct did not occur, so we used Denied. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization. It loses because he does not dispute a description or the reporting's framing in this line; he says the events did not occur.
- Recorded on
- Published here
More from this case
Read the full caseDefendants say they wrote the article "in good faith, believing everything in it was accurate"
Versant Media Group
“Defendants thoroughly and responsibly reported the article and wrote it in good faith, believing everything in it was accurate. As a result, Plaintiff will not be able to prove that any statement or implication about her was materially false, much less that Defendants published such a statement with knowledge of falsity or despite a high probability that it was false.”Read statement
Defendants argue that reporting Wilkins's request is not defamatory "even if she did not actually make the request"
Versant Media Group
“It simply reports she asked FBI agents to drive her friend home so the friend would arrive safely – a statement that would not hold a person up to hatred and ridicule in society. … Reporting on her request to the FBI, even if she did not actually make the request, is simply not the kind of thing that would subject Wilkins to “hatred, contempt, or ridicule.””Read statement
MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler says the network stands "firmly behind" its reporting
“We stand firmly behind MS NOW’s reporting. As a general matter of practice, we don’t comment on ongoing legal matters.”Read statement
Cite this record
- Publisher
- The Dispute Index
- Title
- FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson tells MS NOW the reported events "did not happen"
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/4647-in-ms-now-s-december-5-2025-article
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson tells MS NOW the reported events "did not happen"". First published: 2026-10-05. Last updated: 2026-10-05. https://disputeindex.com/events/4647-in-ms-now-s-december-5-2025-article