Trump's incoming team to undergo FBI background checks after taking office due to 'distrust' of Bureau

President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming transition team is reportedly planning to delay FBI background checks for its political appointees until after they take office due to deep distrust of the bureau.

The move signals a continuation of tension between Trump’s team and the FBI, which dates back to the agency's handling of transition records during the Russia collusion hoax investigation in Trump’s first term, according to a report by The Guardian. By postponing the FBI vetting process, the transition team may limit appointees' access to classified briefings until after Trump is inaugurated on January 20.

Traditionally, political appointees undergo an FBI background check during the transition to identify potential security risks. The background check investigates if an individual is untrustworthy or has vulnerabilities that adversaries may be able to exploit. Interim clearances are typically granted pending deeper investigations.

However, the Trump team appears poised to bypass this standard protocol. 

“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,” said Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes in a statement, per The Guardian.

The President-elect’s team has consistently viewed this process with suspicion and questioned why government employees have the power to recommend against granting security clearance when Trump as president has the ultimate power to give security clearances to those he chooses.

In Trump’s first term, multiple advisers were faced with delays in obtaining high-level clearances, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner and national security aide Sebastian Gorka. Kushner was only able to receive his clearance after it was ordered by Trump directly. 

Speculation indicates that Trump plans to make sweeping changes regarding the FBI once he takes office. He recently nominated Kash Patel as FBI director, declaring in his announcement that the bureau under his administration “will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border.”