President-elect Donald Trump is considering shaking up the leadership at the FBI by firing the director and installing an experienced former agent and MAGA loyalist in the top two roles.
Trump has planned for months to fire Christopher Wray if he was elected, but in recent days has struggled to find a compromise of selecting a new director who can carry out his agenda while also being Senate confirmed. That concern only increased after it became clear his first pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, was facing an uphill confirmation battle before he withdrew his name.
With that context in mind, Trump has considered one potential option: naming Mike Rogers, a former FBI special agent and former Michigan congressman who just narrowly lost a Senate race, as the FBI director, while putting Kash Patel, a controversial MAGA loyalist, in as the deputy FBI director, according to several familiar with Trump’s thinking.
The plan could please both Senate Republicans concerned about Trump’s plans to disrupt the FBI — while also appeasing the MAGA orbit that has been frustrated about why more of their allies haven’t been placed into top jobs, sources told CNN.
As his advisers know best, nothing is final with Trump until it is posted in his own words on Truth Social.
