{"id":207368,"date":"2026-04-23T16:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207368\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:40:08","slug":"new-york-times-editor-accuses-fbi-of-trying-to-criminalize-reporting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207368\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Times Editor Accuses FBI Of Trying To “Criminalize” Reporting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNew York Times executive editor accused the Trump administration of trying to \u201ccriminalize routine reporting,\u201d as the publication reported that one of its journalists was investigated by the FBI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Times reported on Wednesday that Elizabeth Williamson was the target of an investigation into whether she broke federal stalking laws as she reported on FBI Director Kash Patel<\/a>\u2018s use of government resources for security and transportation for his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

\n\tExecutive editor Joe Kahn<\/a> said, \u201cThe FBI\u2019s attempt to criminalize routine reporting is a blatant violation of Elizabeth\u2019s First Amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions. It\u2019s alarming. It\u2019s unconstitutional. And it\u2019s wrong.\u201d Per CNN, Kahn also wrote in an internal memo, We have no reason to believe that this is a widespread practice, but it marks an escalation of tactics to chill and intimidate reporters who reveal information that\u2019s unflattering to the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPer the Times<\/a>, agents interviewed Patel\u2019s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, queried databases about Williamson and recommended moving forward on the investigation. Ultimately, though, the Justice Department decided that there was no legal basis to pursue charges, per the Times.<\/p>\n

\n\tAppearing on Fox News on Wednesday, Patel said \u201cthis same reporter delivered a baseless story which caused a direct threat of life to my girlfriend. And that\u2019s not me saying that. This individual has been charged, arrested and is in court. And he said, as a direct result of\u00a0The New York Times<\/a>\u00a0reporting, he wanted to take a rifle and canoe my girlfriend\u2019s face. We are going to protect not only me and my loved ones, but every American that is threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement provided to the Times, an FBI spokesperson said, \u201cMs. Wilkins was interviewed by FBI agents in relation to a death threat in Boston, which specifically referenced an article published by Williamson the previous day. During this questioning, the agents inquired about the related reporting. While investigators were concerned about how the aggressive reporting techniques crossed lines of stalking, no further action regarding Williamson or the reporting was ever pursued by the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPatel filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic earlier this week after the media outlet published a story on his \u201cerratic\u201d tenure, including reports that he drank to excess. Patel has denied the report, but The Atlantic has stood by its story.<\/p>\n

\n\tSeth Stern, chief of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement, \u201cIf Kash Patel was looking to disprove Williamson\u2019s reporting about him using government resources for personal matters, siccing his agency on a reporter for retribution is a very strange way\u00a0of\u00a0doing it. You know\u00a0the\u00a0FBI is\u00a0off\u00a0the\u00a0rails if even lawyers in Trump\u2019s Department\u00a0of\u00a0Justice had to warn\u00a0them that\u00a0their retaliatory investigation lacked legal merit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Times executive editor accused the Trump administration of trying to \u201ccriminalize routine reporting,\u201d as the publication…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17397,5970,82219,15914,9,11,10,5489],"class_list":{"0":"post-207368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-electionline","9":"tag-fbi","10":"tag-joe-kahn","11":"tag-kash-patel","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-the-new-york-times"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}