The gloves are off, and the days of tolerating the FBI’s overreach are over. Trump reportedly plans to bypass the FBI’s compromised background checks altogether, issuing security clearances to his appointees on his own authority. This scorched-earth approach sends a clear message: the Biden DOJ’s partisan games are finished. With his team in place, Trump is ready to dismantle the Democratic Party's stronghold on the FBI, beginning the long-overdue process of restoring integrity to the nation’s top law enforcement agencies.
"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," reports The Guardian.
According to the report, this approach reflects the ongoing distrust of the FBI, which, of course, began with its handling of transition records during the Russia investigation in Trump’s first term. Trump’s team may not get classified briefings until he is sworn in on January 20, opting to unilaterally issue clearances across the administration.
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.
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