President-elect Donald J. Trump isn’t buying into the FBI’s games, nor should he. The Justice Department has targeted the man and has gone multiple rounds with its lawyers, including a federal raid on his home—all of which was to derail his 2024 candidacy. But he won the election.
He’s in charge, and I hope he takes a baseball bat to the J. Edgar Hoover Building. And yes, no appointee should subject themselves to an FBI background check for security clearances until he’s sworn in and gets his people to run the show. The Biden DOJ cannot be trusted. In a massive middle finger to the bureau, Trump is going to give every appointee a security clearance until his appointees can be reined in and begin the process of cleaning house at the FBI, which has devolved into the Democrats’ political police force (via The Guardian):
Donald Trump’s transition team is planning for all political appointees to receive sweeping security clearances on the first day and only face FBI background checks after the incoming administration takes over the bureau and its own officials are installed in key positions, according to people familiar with the matter.
The move appears to mean that Trump’s team will continue to skirt FBI vetting and may not receive classified briefings until Trump is sworn in on 20 January and unilaterally grant sweeping security clearances across the administration.
Trump’s team has regarded the FBI background check process with contempt for months, a product of their deep distrust of the bureau ever since officials turned over transition records to the Russia investigation during the first Trump presidency, the people said.
[…]
The putative process for obtaining a clearance in the first Trump administration involved the White House’s personnel security office relying on an FBI background check to decide whether to grant one. The background check initially looked for untrustworthiness or red flags that could be exploited by adversaries.
If the initial checks against law enforcement databases uncovered no issues, applicants were granted an interim clearance while deeper investigations continued until it was advanced to a permanent clearance. The current Trump plan appears set to bypass that initial stage.
“The Trump-Vance transition lawyers continue to constructively engage with the Biden-Harris administration lawyers regarding all agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act. We will update you once a decision is made,” Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.
Many of our enemies still work at the FBI and the Justice Department. Look at what’s transpired, not just during the first Trump presidency, but this 2024 cycle—the incoming administration is rightly suspicious of this agency that has ruined countless lives to get Trump.
I’ll support anything that makes the FBI miserable, frustrated, and appear small. They’ve earned it.