Following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, senior executives at FBI headquarters in Washington are reportedly in a state of disarray, uncertain of their future under a second Trump administration.
Sources inside the bureau told The Washington Times that FBI leadership, especially those on the seventh floor, are bracing for sweeping changes and possibly widespread dismissals once Trump takes office in January.
FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Director Paul Abbate are seen as unlikely to retain their roles, with many agency insiders expecting Trump to quickly remove them. Trump famously fired former FBI Director James Comey in 2017, and insiders say they anticipate a similar shakeup this time around. According to one source, Wray is expected to step down before the inauguration rather than face a public firing, drawing comparisons to Comey’s abrupt dismissal while he was mid-flight on a bureau plane.
Many career FBI officials are reportedly scrambling to secure private sector positions, particularly those at the GS-14 level or higher, fearing that no senior position is truly secure under Trump’s administration.
Former FBI whistleblower George Hill mentioned that a “frazzled” environment has set in within the bureau, with numerous executives already planning early retirements. According to Hill, at least 50 senior executives are hurrying to leave the agency before January.
The fraught relationship between Trump and the FBI stretches back to the 2016 campaign, when the agency launched the now-infamous Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
Despite an exhaustive investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, no evidence was found linking Trump to Russian collusion, although the saga left a lasting stain on the bureau’s reputation. More recently, a whistleblower alleged that Comey initiated an off-the-books investigation into Trump as early as 2015, unrelated to the Russia probe.
The agency’s political leanings under the Biden administration further strained relations, with many FBI resources directed toward January 6 investigations. Trump has pledged to pardon those charged in connection with January 6, a promise that some FBI agents reportedly find ironic, given the extensive resources the bureau has dedicated to those cases.
Adding to the tension, tech mogul Elon Musk, a staunch Trump supporter, is rumored to be joining Trump’s team as head of a commission focused on government efficiency. Some FBI insiders view Musk’s potential role as a serious threat, fearing that he will cut “dead weight” and demand greater accountability within the bureau, where inefficiencies and bureaucratic excesses have reportedly thrived.
According to one source, “If you’re going to try to make the government efficient, you would start with the FBI… because if you do politics all the time, you’re probably bloated.”
