Kash Patel exploded at FBI official who dared question girlfriend's security detail: NYT

FBI Director Kash Patel exploded at one of his own officials who dared suggest that assigning a full-time SWAT team to protect his girlfriend might need an ethics review, according to a bombshell New York Times report.

The clash came after FBI officials recommended Patel seek a legal review and threat assessment to determine whether the lavish security detail for his country singer girlfriend Alexis Wilkins — who lives part-time in Nashville, a city away from Patel — was ethical or even necessary.

Patel's response, according to three people briefed on the incident, was to berate one of the officials, declaring that his authority alone was all that was needed.

An FBI spokesman denied the account.

“The claim that Director Patel ordered agents to do anything improper, or berated agents is completely false,” spokesman Ben Williamson said.

Patel has assigned four SWAT agents and two SUVs to guard and chauffeur the 27-year-old Wilkins around Nashville on personal errands, a setup that a former senior official estimated costs taxpayers roughly $1 million a year, before overtime and other expenses. No previous FBI director's spouse or partner has ever received a full-time government security detail.

The revelation lands amid a cascade of damaging stories about Patel's tenure, including an FBI investigation into a New York Times reporter who profiled Wilkins, a $35,000 concert suite during an FBI jet trip with Wilkins, and his ordering of agents to drive his girlfriend's "inebriated" pal home.