Kash Patel's Partner Performs National Anthem Before Hegseth's Anti-Abortion Address
Before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a contentious anti-abortion address to Christian broadcasters, the national anthem resonated through the venue, performed by none other than Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel. This moment unfolded at the NRB's "Freedom 250" event in Nashville, Tennessee.
Wilkins, a country music artist, was selected to sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ as the event commenced. Her relationship with Patel has drawn attention, particularly after he faced scrutiny for using a private jet to visit her, prompting an investigation by congressional Democrats late last year.
In a discussion on the Katie Miller Podcast, hosted by the spouse of a Trump advisor, Patel defended his travel choices. “It’s ironic that they’re saying, ‘Oh, you’re going on vacation or you’re going to see your girlfriend perform,’” he remarked. “If I was actually abusing it, I would go see every one of her shows. I think I get to like 15 percent.”
Questions about Patel's travel resurfaced when he announced plans to attend the Winter Olympics in Milan. The FBI later denied allegations that he intended to use agency aircraft for this trip.
At the NRB conference, Wilkins was not alone in her performance; the 101st Airborne Division's color guard also attended, witnessing Hegseth's remarks directed at the National Religious Broadcasters group.
Event tickets ranged from $300 to $750, allowing attendees to hear Hegseth's vehement assertions about the nation being "godless" and his anti-abortion and anti-trans rhetoric. He began his speech by extending greetings from “a fighter for the people of faith, President Donald J Trump.”
Hegseth's comments drew on Trump's controversial history, including a 2020 incident where Trump held a Bible upside down during a photo op after clearing protesters outside a church and his 2016 claim that "two Corinthians" was his favorite book of the Bible—a phrase that perplexed many American Christians.
Continuing his address, Hegseth, who has been married twice, spoke about "spiritual health" within the military while criticizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “Gone is godless and divisive DEI, gone is gender-bending equity and quotas,” he declared. “We are one military, one fighting force, one nation under God. We are not ‘In woke we trust,’ we are ‘In God we trust.’”
On the topic of abortion, he asserted that “protecting the life of an unborn baby is not political, it’s biblical,” claiming Trump is “working every day to end taxpayer support of abortion” and to eliminate “abortion for illegal immigrants at Veterans’ Affairs hospitals and service member abortion-related travel expenses at the War Department.”
Hegseth further vilified those who oppose him or Trump's MAGA agenda, labeling them as “fueled by godless and toxic ideologies, foreign to the Western way of life, with tolerant hearts filled with rage and hate.”
The defense secretary's overt Christian nationalism has sparked debate during his confirmation hearings. His tattoos, which some interpret as evoking the Crusades, have been defended by Hegseth as "patriotic," dismissing criticism as "anti-Christian bigotry."
