'Her Boyfriend Runs the FBI': Influencers Say a Retweet Could Land Them in Federal Prison

A civil defamation dispute pitting country singer Alexis Wilkins against conservative influencers risks veering into criminal territory, sources close to the defendants warn, as Wilkins links online rumors to a torrent of death threats that now draw federal protection.

The girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel accuses Elijah Schaffer, Kyle Seraphin and Sam Parker of igniting conspiracy theories portraying her as a foreign spy, claims she says have unleashed harassment severe enough to warrant elite FBI guards.

Critics decry the suits as tools to muzzle dissent, while Wilkins insists the attacks have upended her life. As protections escalate and agencies circle, the case tests the line between speech and peril.

Wilkins first publicly connected the rumors to safety fears during a July 31, 2025, interview on "The Megyn Kelly Show," warning the accusations "put a target on my back."

She described the accusations, which emerged after Patel's July closure of further Jeffrey Epstein files, as "incredibly disheartening" and tied them to doxxing of her family and personal attacks.

She elaborated on the threats during a November 17, 2025, phone interview with The Daily Wire.

"I’ve been in the political sphere for a second," Wilkins began. "There’s security issues, there’s safety issues, the death threats are graphic, and there are a lot of them."

"You have to think about your house getting swatted, you deal with stuff where people are trying to harm you," she continued. "That is the intent, and that’s been very real, very quickly for me in the last couple of months."

Wilkins added, "I don’t feel very comfortable going in public. I don’t leave my house a lot."

She reiterated the alleged dangers in an X post on November 20, 2025, replying to a user who called her lawsuits overreach.

"Critical is totally fine," she wrote. "Disparagement to the point of affecting my work life and safety just for people to get clicks? I’m just trying to do my job and live my life. People don’t ask for this kind of engagement from online factors, believe me."

Yet, rumors, death threats, and harassment plague public figures routinely.

Federal data logged an 8,000 percent surge in threats against ICE agents in 2025, often fueled by policy rumors. From Gabby Giffords to Brett Kavanaugh, officials and activists navigate what analysts term a "new dark normal" of political violence.

Wilkins launched her legal salvo in August 2025 with a $5 million defamation suit in Austin federal court against former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin.

The filing alleges his August 22 podcast episode referenced an unnamed woman matching her description as a "former Mossad agent" in a honeypot scheme targeting Patel.

Seraphin labeled the bit "satire based on rumors" and moved to dismiss, citing a 2023 meeting with the couple; a December hearing awaits.

Wilkins filed another $5 million suit on October 31 in Utah federal court against Sam Parker, a former Senate candidate.

The complaint targets his social media posts questioning her relationship with Patel, including one probing why a "24-year-old devout Christian" would date a "Hindu Indian old enough to be her dad" at a Christian Nationalist event, implying espionage ties.

A third suit landed October 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Rift TV CEO Elijah Schaffer, seeking $5 million over a September 14, 2025, wordless X retweet.

Schaffer retweeted a post on Mossad's use of female agents to seduce foes, pairing it with a photo of Wilkins and Patel at a formal event.

The complaint contends the juxtaposition, amid rampant rumors, accused her of compromising U.S. security and sparked harassment.

"While Defendant may not have included any caption to spell out the meaning of his post, he didn't have to," the filing asserts.

Legal observers flag the suits as potential SLAPP actions — strategic lawsuits against public participation — aimed at bankrupting foes through defense costs.

Wilkins must clear the Supreme Court's 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan bar, proving "actual malice": defendants knew claims were false or showed reckless disregard. Florida law shields retweets as sharing, not endorsement, teeing up dismissal bids.

Even if she wins, the process is the punishment, as fees could ruin independents. Success might curb scrutiny; failure could bolster online discourse.

The suits carry strong indicia of proxy litigation. Wilkins is represented by Jesse Binnall of Binnall Law Group. Mr. Binnall simultaneously serves as president of The Kash Foundation and shares office space at 717 King Street, Alexandria, Virginia, with both The Kash Foundation and The Kash Patel Legal Offense Trust.

Public records and the firm’s own website confirm these overlapping roles.

The financial and organizational entanglement is not disputed.

When Seraphin highlighted the connection with a meme captioned “sue that guy,” Binnall replied publicly, "Good idea."

On Nov. 18, 2025, the FBI confirmed Wilkins now travels with a dedicated SWAT security detail — an unprecedented perk for any director’s girlfriend.

No previous FBI spouse, including Christopher Wray’s wife Helen, ever received standalone protection.

The revelation ignited outrage, especially amid a partial government shutdown that furloughed thousands of employees and after flight logs showed Director Patel repeatedly deploying the bureau’s $60 million Gulfstream jet for Wilkins’ personal events, including a Nov. 3 birthday trip to Nashville.

**Please support Elijah Schaffer’s legal defense against the $5 million defamation lawsuit HERE.**

In an exclusive interview with Rift TV, Schaffer warned that Wilkins’ defamation suit against him, Seraphin, and Parker is rapidly morphing into something far more dangerous than a civil dispute.

He described the case as a "SLAPP violation orchestrated by Kash Patel through his girlfriend," insisting the accusations are deliberately framed to implicate the defendants in physical threats against Wilkins.

"We’ve publicly condemned all violence and harassment," Schaffer stressed. "I literally only retweeted a picture — no words, no threats. Now she’s claiming that a single retweet is putting her life in danger and requiring FBI protection. The implication is chilling: because her boyfriend runs the FBI, a wordless social-media post could be spun into a criminal matter.

"The federal government is already providing her security, multiple agencies are involved, and the narrative keeps escalating. We fear this is proxy intimidation designed to silence dissent — and the next step could be criminal charges against us for speech."

Meanwhile, the backlash from Wilkins’ lawsuit has upended Schaffer's life. Since the filing became public, he has faced a barrage of death threats and doxxing.

One recent X message wished his family "the same fate as Charlie Kirk," while another depicted a pig with a gun to its head.

Strangers have appeared at his door, forcing him, his wife, and their two toddler children to abruptly leave their Florida home and relocate to an undisclosed location.

"People are saying I deserve to be murdered over something I barely did," Schaffer said. "Her lawsuit is what turned her into a public spectacle and brought all this attention — not me."

The uproar torpedoed Schaffer's November 2025 college speaking tour, sponsored by Uncensored AI. Planners eyed seven or eight campuses, but nearly all of them were cancelled after pressure from middle managers, College Republicans chapters and Turning Point USA affiliates.

Liberty University cited a blanket ban on political events, then hosted Brilyn Hollyhand — a political talk by the young conservative commentator — days later.

Organizers suspect the Wilkins suits fueled the sabotage, targeting Schaffer's Epstein critiques and Uncensored AI's anti-censorship stance.

Uncensored AI founder JD Sharp, a self-described "as big a Trump supporter as it gets" who celebrated election night in West Palm Beach, issued a blistering warning: President Trump is silently allowing FBI Director Kash Patel to weaponize lawsuits against the very MAGA voices who helped put him in office.

"This is coordinated censorship through bankruptcy,” Sharp told Rift TV in an exclusive interview. "The cases are laughably weak, yet the legal bills alone can destroy a family. Elijah has a wife and kids who depend on him. Now they’re trying to take his livelihood because he questioned the Epstein closure."

"It just looks like there's a concerted effort to mass censor through intimidation of bankruptcy, because in some cases, even if you win the suit, just the process is the punishment, because it costs a lot of money to defend yourself in this case."

Sharp pointed to Wilkins’ counsel, Jesse Binnall, as proof Patel is orchestrating the attacks through his girlfriend.

"Without Charlie Kirk alive to keep Trump grounded, he’s surrounded by billionaires who don’t know the price of milk. He’s letting his own FBI director target longtime supporters. That’s not America First — that’s donor first."

A once-obscure online rumor has detonated into a high-stakes showdown between free speech and federal power. With FBI protection, multimillion-dollar lawsuits and campus cancellations in play, courts now decide whether questioning the powerful remains protected — or perilous. The line between civil dispute and criminal threat has rarely looked thinner.

**Please support Elijah Schaffer’s legal defense against the $5 million defamation lawsuit HERE.**