Trump’s Already Contentious Relationship with the FBI Grows More Difficult
Left: Former President and Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump; Right: FBI Director Christopher Wray. Source: Rebecca Cook via Reuters; Drew Angerer via Getty Images
Following the first assassination attempt on former President and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, criticism of the Secret Service ran rampant. Agencies like the FBI, however, aren’t as much at the forefront despite being the lead agency on the investigations of the assassination attempts. Donald Trump has long held grievances with the intelligence community and law enforcement. However, in light of the recent assassination attempts, his relationship with the FBI seems to have reached a high point, with Trump claiming that “they’ve done a very good job” regarding the investigation. Regardless, Trump has still not backed down on his criticisms of the broader intelligence community, claiming they are embroiled in a plot against his candidacy.
Donald Trump has faced numerous threats on his life in the months leading up to the election. In addition to the two assassination attempts, top Iranian officials have claimed that they want to kill Trump before election day as revenge for ordering the killing of a popular Iranian general while president. The FBI also recently discovered an attempt by hackers associated with the Iranian military to get information from the emails of Trump campaign aids and advisors. With multiple attempts to kill and sabotage the former president, Trump has had to interact more with the FBI than most presidential candidates. However, Trump has had a difficult relationship with the FBI.
Trump’s hot-and-cold relationship with the FBI can be traced back to the beginning of his presidential term when the agency decided to investigate the Trump campaign’s possible conspiracy with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Trump claimed that the FBI had been spying on his campaign and that the investigation was a politically motivated attempt to sabotage his presidency. During his presidency, the Justice Department performed an investigation into these claims and failed to prove that there was any misconduct on the part of the FBI. This suspicion continued to run deep during his presidency. In 2020, Trump repeatedly expressed that he wanted to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom he appointed. The FBI once again launched an investigation into Trump after he was no longer president. In 2022, they opened a criminal investigation and issued a search warrant on his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida on the grounds of his alleged mishandling of classified documents. This enraged Trump once again, and he claimed that his home was “under siege” by the FBI.
Trump has continued to push an agenda that federal agencies like the FBI are part of the “deep state,” determined to sabotage his candidacy and harbor biases against conservatives. If elected, Trump plans to fire large swaths of the federal bureaucracy, most of which are independent and nonpartisan agencies, and replace them with conservative loyalists. These plans are listed in Project 2025, a presidential plan created by The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank that Trump claims he has no involvement in despite being connected to many of its authors. However, Trump and his team aren’t exactly denouncing the ideas outlined in Project 2025. Recently, a memo circulating among some of Trump’s aides was discovered that recommended he alter the requirements for the FBI background checks required for appointees to a presidential administration. The memo advises that the checks be outsourced, permitting them to be less intrusive and thorough. This plan would allow Trump to place loyalists in senior positions in his administration despite any red flags that may come up in the clearance process. This recommendation is consistent with the Project 2025 plans that would significantly reduce the power of agencies like the FBI and, in turn, allow Trump greater presidential power.
In the last few months, Trump has become increasingly reliant on agencies like the FBI. They’ve spoken to many members of his team as victims of the hacks and intelligence officials say they’ve provided more briefings to Trump and his opponent, Kamala Harris, than in any other recent election cycle. Both the FBI and the Trump campaign are acting tentatively in their interactions with one another. Among campaign officials, there is the belief that the agency is not taking the Iranian threats seriously enough and nervousness lingers about providing the agency access to phones and computers. The FBI has set up a filter group, a group that examines investigation intel and keeps any politically sensitive information in their investigation confined to a small group while still trying to keep his team up to speed on developments.
Donald Trump’s increasing reliance on the agency has created an interesting dynamic where he is directly at odds with the people responsible for protecting him. Inwardly, they are providing him and his team with security information to prevent another assassination attempt or further hacking. Outwardly, Trump continues to discredit the intelligence community and plots to reduce their power and autonomy if he is to win the presidency. As the election nears, uncertainty grows about the future of the FBI and the nation’s premier law enforcement agency may be forced to examine duty versus. the potential president’s political agenda.