Wilkins's complaint says Patel never ordered any agent to escort her friends home
Alexis WilkinsPlaintiff, through her lawyers, in a complaint filed in federal court in Nashville
In paragraph 12 of the complaint filed on May 29, 2026 through her lawyers, Alexis Wilkins says the article's account is "entirely false", that Patel has never ordered any agent or member of her security detail to escort her friends home and that she did not ask any of them to do so. The complaint also says no FBI agents have ever escorted any of her friends home and, in paragraph 13, that she "did not have a security detail at that time", meaning spring 2025. It is a pleading signed by her lawyers, not sworn testimony.
Responding to
Wilkins's complaint says Kash Patel never ordered any FBI agent or member of her security detail to escort any of her friends home and that she did not ask any of them to do so, and adds that no FBI agents have ever escorted any of her friends home.
“This is entirely false. Director Patel has never ordered any FBI agent or member of Ms. Wilkins’ security detail to escort any of Ms. Wilkins’ friends home—inebriated or otherwise—nor did Ms. Wilkins ask any of them to do so. … No FBI agents have ever escorted any of Ms. Wilkins’ friends home. … Notably, Ms. Wilkins did not have a security detail at that time.”
Original text
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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
Original text
About this source
Wilkins's complaint against Versant Media Group, Inc. d/b/a MS NOW, Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian, with claims of defamation (including defamation per se) and false light invasion of privacy, seeking compensatory, special and punitive damages above $75,000 and a jury trial. It is a pleading signed by lawyers, so its statements are allegations and not sworn testimony. Its only attachment is a civil cover sheet. Paragraph 16 prints a text exchange between Williamson and Dilanian that we have not seen from any other source.
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About this source
Wilkins's opposition brief. It repeats that the events in the article never happened and that she had no security detail in spring 2025, and says the FBI assigned the detail in late 2025. It attaches no declaration or document on when the detail began. We did not find in it a response to the defendants' footnote citing the New York Times.
Original text
About this source
The public docket of the case as mirrored by CourtListener, which says its listings may not be current. As of October 5, 2026, its newest entry is dated September 15, 2026 and it lists no ruling on the defendants' motion to dismiss or transfer. The page does not include the exhibits to the defendants' motion, such as the declaration of a Versant officer.
Before the quotation
MS NOW had reported the account on December 5, 2025, and Williamson had said on X that the reported events did not happen. The complaint reads the article's "this spring" as spring 2025.
After the quotation
MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler said on June 1, 2026 that the network stands behind its reporting. The defendants moved on August 11 to dismiss or transfer the case, and as of October 5, 2026 the CourtListener copy of the docket, last updated September 15, 2026, lists no ruling on that motion.
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. The complaint says Patel "has never ordered" any agent to escort her friends home and that she did not ask any of them to do so, 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 the complaint goes beyond disputing a description and says the order and the request did not happen. We attribute the statement to Wilkins as a filing made through her lawyers.
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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
- Wilkins's complaint says Patel never ordered any agent to escort her friends home
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/4650-in-paragraph-12-of-the-complaint-filed-on
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Wilkins's complaint says Patel never ordered any agent to escort her friends home". First published: 2026-10-05. Last updated: 2026-10-05. https://disputeindex.com/events/4650-in-paragraph-12-of-the-complaint-filed-on