Watkins was in a three-year romantic relationship with indicted Senate Intelligence Committee staffer James Wolfe, which lasted from December 2013 to December 2017. Watkins denied that Wolfe had ever provided her classified information. Watkins disclosed the relationship to BuzzFeed News, The New York Times, and late in her tenure to Politico. McClatchy editors said they were ignorant of the relationship while she was an intern from mid-2013 and an employee to the end of 2014. Following the Wolfe relationship, Watkins dated another Senate Intelligence Committee staff member, which Politico, her employer at the time, has said she failed to disclose. Watkins was first publicly identified as involved in the controversy by The New York Times.