In the midst of the chaos, with gunfire echoing and dignitaries scrambling for safety, Alexis Wilkins, a 27-year-old country singer, found herself at the heart of a crisis. Positioned directly beside the FBI director during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, she was unexpectedly thrust into a situation that demanded quick thinking and composure.

Wilkins recounted the harrowing experience to the Daily Mail, detailing how her boyfriend, 45-year-old Kash Patel, instinctively shielded her from danger by urging her to take cover beneath their table. The star-studded event, held at the Washington Hilton, quickly turned chaotic as fears of an active shooter situation gripped the ballroom.

“He kept telling me to get down,” Wilkins shared, recalling Patel’s protective actions. “He was in his chair, covering me, keeping me firmly on the ground under the table. I wasn’t looking at anything else, just focused on staying safe.”

The alarm was raised at precisely 8:35 p.m., and Patel’s transformation from dinner guest to protector was immediate and decisive. While huddled on the floor, Wilkins’ thoughts turned to her family watching the event unfold on television. “My first thought was, ‘I need to text my mom so she doesn’t have a panic attack,’” she said, highlighting the personal turmoil beneath the public spectacle.

Wilkins’ candid account paints a vivid picture of an evening that promised glamour but descended into a night of unexpected terror, leaving those present to rely on swift instincts and the hope of safety amidst uncertainty.

While huddled on the floor, Wilkins’ first thought was of her family watching the broadcast at home. ‘I need to text my mom so she doesn’t have a panic attack was my first thought,’ she said.

Her four-word text message was direct and chilling: ‘Shots fired, we’re okay.’

Wilkins said her mom responded saying she felt sick – later telling her daughter on the phone that it was the ‘longest minute of her life.’ 

The boyfriend of 27-year-old country singer Alexis Wilkins is the FBI director Kash Patel, 45

Patel and Wilkins evacuating from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after the shooting

Patel and Wilkins then checked on Daily Mail reporters and other guests at the table they were seated with for the short-lived evening. 

Once the room was partially cleared, Wilkins says she saw Patel transition instantly into ‘complete work mode.’

‘I can see him flip into, you know, complete work mode, and he is already on his work iPhone, getting things organized,’ she said. ‘He was getting me safe and then getting straight to work.’

When asked about speculation that Patel was using his personal phone to field calls, Wilkins explained that both his work and personal phones are iPhones: ‘I can guarantee that all of his calls were work-related that evening. That speculation was made by an angry ex-FBI agent who apparently thought that the bureau still only used Androids.’

However, the trauma of the security scare was quickly followed by what Wilkins describes as a ‘sick’ attempt by the New York Times to misrepresent her behavior during the crisis.

The newspaper published – and later edited an account claiming Wilkins was seen in a distraught state, holding hands with a man who was not Patel in a private holding room.

‘I was only ever holding Kash’s hand; anything to suggest otherwise is false. It is sick for the New York Times to have used this time after a perceived active shooting as a political tool. They will stop at nothing to push a narrative out that’s damaging to people they’ve determined they dislike,’ she told the Daily Mail.

Wilkins now wants to set the record straight, calling the reporting ‘salacious’ and a ‘weird refusal to fully admit they were wrong.’

Journalists huddled on the floor of the Washington Hilton ballroom as Secret Service agents rushed in   

‘The thing that’s really interesting about all of this is that never happened at all,’ Wilkins said firmly. ‘I was never in a different holding room outside of the holding room that I was in with Kash. I was sitting there with the acting attorney general and his wife, Kristine, and never held anyone’s hand.’

She continued: ‘To make it about something salacious was really… talk about trauma. I thought to myself, “Are you kidding?” You don’t even have time to process it, because something’s coming out about you holding hands with someone.’

Wilkins challenged the accuracy of the story, noting that the door was locked to their holding room.

‘You say someone’s holding someone’s hand in another room, you know exactly what you’re implying. They have the wherewithal to know that,’ she told the Daily Mail. 

A spokesperson for The New York Times stood by their reporting. 

‘A Times journalist on the scene of the Correspondents’ Dinner accurately reported during the breaking news events of the evening, including Ms. Wilkins’ sheltering in a room while holding a security officer’s hand. This reporting was published in a live blog Saturday night, and while updated for additional context to readers, was never deleted,’ they stated.

The Times adjusted their copy to include that the man whose hand she was holding was a member of the Secret Service. 

The incident has highlighted what Wilkins calls the ‘very real security threats’ facing those in the administration and those closest to them. 

‘A guy was arrested in Boston, and he directly cited a New York Times article that he read about me for the reason that he decided to send me a threat,’ Wilkins said.

The article Wilkins is referring to was a piece done by the Times with the headline: ‘Kash Patel’s girlfriend seeks fame and fortune’ – detailing her private life and relationship with the Director. 

The incident has highlighted what Wilkins calls the ‘very real security threats’ facing those close to the administration

Wilkins watches Patel’s ceremonial swearing-in last February

Alden Welch Ruml, 26, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was arrested in March for reportedly sending her a threatening email, saying he would be ‘happy’ when her face was ‘canoed by an assault rifle’ and also warned, ‘watch your back.’

She says there have been dozens of other threats. 

Wilkins had been provided a full-time security detail made up of FBI SWAT team members once the threats started to escalate. She says the threat levels were determined from security team assessments.

She also separately noted that the White House Correspondents Dinner proves there are credible dangers in an era of rampant political violence.  

‘It’s not something that you invite into your life, to have to worry about your safety, especially when I don’t have a job in the administration… I’m just trying to support my significant other and live my life.’

Despite the ‘conspiratorial’ noise on social media, Wilkins says she is focused on processing the event with those who were actually there.

Reflecting on the redo President Trump is planning for the glamorous gala that turned into a crime scene, Wilkins made a joke to lighten the mood.

‘I hope that George Santos doesn’t roast me… I need to be allowed to wear the same dress again,’ she laughed, referring to the expelled former congressman who was doling out fashion ratings in the dinner’s aftermath.