Trump Instigates Major Shake-up At Fbi

President Donald Trump’s appointees have initiated a major shake-up of the FBI’s top ranks through reassignments and demotions and appear to be taking steps toward an even broader overhaul of the bureau’s personnel, said three people familiar with the moves who are not authorized to speak publicly.

The moves are impacting senior managers in some of the FBI’s largest field offices as well as those who oversee some of the most critical branches at FBI headquarters in Washington.

The initial personnel actions appear aimed at leaders and agents who played roles in the investigations most closely associated with Trump himself — including the nationwide manhunt for members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as the two criminal investigations of Trump led by special counsel Jack Smith.

Executive assistant directors who lead the FBI’s National Security, Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services, Science and Technology, Information and Technology, and Human Resources branches were notified earlier this week that they would be demoted, according to a fact sheet obtained by POLITICO that was circulated by House Judiciary Democrats to the broader caucus.

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the personnel changes.

It was not immediately clear whether FBI personnel were formally fired or whether there are efforts underway to challenge the personnel moves.

Some of the senior FBI officials affected are choosing to retire rather than accept “summary reassignments,” according to one lawyer advising people involved. The process of firing an FBI agent normally takes at least six to nine months and requires the bureau to show some sort of serious misconduct by the agent, the attorney said.

“If true, these outrageous actions by acting officials are fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by President Trump and his support for FBI Agents,” the FBI Agents Association said in an unsigned statement. “Dismissing potentially hundreds of Agents would severely weaken the Bureau’s ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately risk setting up the Bureau and its new leadership for failure.”

The shake-up comes a day after the confirmation hearing for Kash Patel, Trump’s choice to lead the bureau, who did not signal knowledge of plans for sweeping changes to the bureau’s rank-and-file.

Wray announced last month that he intended to resign, after Trump indicated plans to appoint Patel to the director’s post.

“The American people delivered an overwhelming verdict on the question of whether or not we need to clean ranks in our law enforcement and intelligence communities and ensure that the partisan weaponization of our justice system ends,” senior White House aide Stephen Miller told reporters Friday afternoon.