FBI Director Kash Patel embarked on a bizarre MAGA monologue after denying a claim he used the bureau to investigate a journalist who wrote about his girlfriend.
Patel, 46, and aspiring country singer Alexis Wilkins, 27, have been dating for three years. Wilkins now receives around-the-clock protective detail from SWAT and FBI field officers around the nation, according to an article published by The New York Times in February.
After the story ran, the FBI searched databases for information on the journalist who wrote the piece, Elizabeth Williamson, the Times reported on Wednesday.
Patel denied the claim during a softball interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
“I’m reading that they’re going after you, that you used the FBI because you didn’t like a story about your girlfriend... is there any truth to that? Because I’ve known you a long time, it just doesn’t sound like you,” Hannity asked reluctantly.
Patel told Hannity, “Absolutely not,” before adding a personal, “Thanks, Sean.”
The FBI director then went on a more than minute-long monologue, which covered the report, President Trump, and even the Biden administration
“This same reporter delivered a baseless story which caused a direct threat-of-life to my girlfriend,” Patel said.
Alden Welch Ruml, 26, of Massachusetts, was arrested in March after authorities said he sent Wilkins an email saying he would be “happy” when her face is “canoed by an assault rifle." He pleaded not guilty last month and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
Patel told Hannity he directly blamed the Times story. “We are going to protect not only me and my loved ones but every American that is threatened.”