Trump’s team skips FBI background checks for some Cabinet picks

[Elim Garak]

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is bypassing traditional FBI background checks for at least some of his Cabinet picks while using private companies to conduct vetting of potential candidates for administration jobs, people close to the transition planning say.

Trump and his allies believe the FBI system is slow and plagued with issues that could stymie the president-elect’s plan to quickly begin the work of implementing his agenda, people briefed on the plans said. Critics say the intrusive background checks sometimes turn up embarrassing information used to inflict political damage.

The discussions come as Trump has floated several controversial choices for high-level positions in the US government – including Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.

Ultimately, the president has the final authority on who he nominates and decides to share intelligence with, regardless of the established protocol set in the wake of World War II to make sure those selections don’t have unknown foreign ties or other issues that could raise national security concerns.

But circumventing background checks would be bucking a long-established norm in Washington. It also reflects Trump’s deep mistrust of the national security establishment, which he derides as the Deep State. Sources say he has privately questioned the need for law enforcement background checks.

Dan Meyer, a national security attorney in Washington, DC, said the incoming Trump administration “doesn’t want harmony.” They “don’t want the FBI to coordinate a norm; they want to hammer the norm,” he said.

Some of Trump’s advisers began circulating a memo before the election, urging him to bypass the traditional background check process for some of his appointees, a source briefed on the memo told CNN. Instead of using law enforcement, the memo proposed hiring private researchers who could move more quickly to perform background checks.

The president-elect could always, however, decide to eventually submit names to the FBI.

Some of Trump’s picks for roles in his administration could run into problems during a background check, posing potential hurdles during the confirmation process.

Gaetz has been mired for years in Justice Department and House ethics investigations related to sex trafficking. The Justice Department declined to charge Gaetz, and the House ethics probe, days away from being completed, was effectively ended when the Florida congressman resigned from his seat this week. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Gabbard, meanwhile, has frequently appeared to take positions more favorable to foreign leaders widely considered not just American adversaries but, in some cases, brutal dictators, including the presidents of Syria and Russia, raising questions from allies and critics alike.

Gabbard notably met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria in 2017, and said in 2019 that he was “not an enemy of the United States.”

In early 2022, she echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rationale for the country’s invasion of Ukraine, pinning the blame not on Moscow but on the Biden administration’s failure to acknowledge “Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO” — a popular strain of thought in some right-wing circles.

The Trump team’s lack of urgency when it comes to pre-vetting individuals for national security positions isn’t surprising and is consistent with how he handled the transition process after the 2016 election, the source said. Trump’s team was “ill-prepared” for taking over in 2017, so the current lack of interest in participating in the vetting process is “par for the course, maybe,” the source added.

Submitting individuals who have current access to classified material or were previously vetted could help move the process along while those with no US government experience will take some time. Trump’s pick of Rep. Mike Waltz as national security adviser, is one such example.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/poli...m02bDB5dXdPWE1hS0ZFNWhfSmJtS1JIVDNKc2FYQnVFUg..

 

[IIVI]

America has set its standard. Not even hiding it.

They’re going to dismantle a whole bunch of shyt we’re going to be spending the next 30 years fixing.

A lot of people won’t see America reach its peak that we once had this lifetime. shyt is crazy.

The citizens may very well be playing catch-up for the next half century. Wow.

 

[Elim Garak]

America has set its standard. Not even hiding it.

They’re going to dismantle a whole bunch of shyt we’re going to be spending the next 30 years fixing.

A lot of people won’t see America reach its peak that we once had this lifetime. shyt is crazy.

When these Supreme court picks happen it's going to be absolute fukkery.

 

[Roger king]

If you are a white man the rules are different imagine obama even daring such a thing, it would be impeachable offense and he would be called on to resign by nearly all the credible papers of record, trump disregards rules in place for decades and not a word at all

 

[Micky Mikey]

The man isn't even in office yet and we're already seeing obscene levels of corruption.

 

[Formerly Black Trash]

LOL how is this legal?

Shouldn't FBI be doing their own checks?

 

[Adeptus Astartes]

American Caesar

 

[feelosofer]

Yea 2024 Trump is not the same as 2016 Trump.

He is meaner, more aggressive and the rhetoric will be increasingly violent and he has little standing in his way.

 

[jdubnyce]

On his "trust me bro, this guy is solid"

@Donald J Trump

 

[Wargames]

The precedent being set here is that it’s no longer “will they find out” you commit crimes but it’s now “will they enforce anything against me if they find out I committed crimes”.

Basically third world justice

 

[shopthatwrecks]

implode within

 

[Formerly Black Trash]

The precedent being set here is that it’s no longer “will they find out” you commit crimes but it’s now “will they enforce anything against me if they find out I committed crimes”.

Basically third world justice

Yeah it's over

 

[Luke Cage]

So we could literally be employing russian spies in government positions and nobody would know.

 

[Wargames]

So we could literally be employing russian spies in government positions and nobody would know.

They’ll know, they just won’t enforce anything against them. Though in the spy craft case I think they would put a bullet between there eyes or bury shyt so deep all they see is the tip of the iceberg

 

[Formerly Black Trash]

They’ll know, they just won’t enforce anything against them. Though in the spy craft case I think they would put a bullet between there eyes or bury shyt so deep all they see is the tip of the iceberg

Damn so there is no actual Deep State?

All them agencies weak as hell if they wont check Trump and foreign agents