The New York Times Reports FBI Investigation Into Reporter Elizabeth Williamson Following Story on Director Kash Patel

The New York Times said the FBI “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.”

The Times learned of the investigation through a confidential source who tipped off Williamson’s colleague Michael Schmidt, who then published a story about it on Wednesday night, prompting First Amendment groups to denounce the FBI inquiry.

Times executive editor Joe Kahn called the probe an “alarming” attempt by the FBI to “criminalize routine reporting.”

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.”

Weimers added, “This ongoing, un-American harassment of journalists eerily echoes the Bureau’s darkest days,” and said, “It’s time for Patel to cash out and resign.”