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Tensions between former President Donald Trump and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) came to a head in August and Trump's grievances with the nation's premier law enforcement agency have only continued in the months since. With rumors of an announcement soon after the midterms confirming Trump will run for president in 2024, his contentious relationship with the FBI begs the question of what will happen should he win a second term.
Trump has long raged against the FBI, criticizing the agency as early as his first year in office when he slammed the bureau over its role in the investigation into alleged ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Even though the agency is still led by his own appointee, Christopher Wray, Trump's attacks on the FBI in the wake of the Mar-a-Lago search has been unrelenting. He's accused agents of planting evidence during the search and called the FBI "vicious monsters."
Republicans have backed Trump's criticisms, calling for Wray to be dismissed and vowing to avenge Trump with stricter oversight of the agency if the GOP takes back Congress.
On Friday, House Republicans released a report of more than 1,000 pages alleging the FBI of being politically motivated, laying the groundwork for Republicans to seize on Trump's scrutiny. The leading member behind the report, Representative Jim Jordan—who will also likely chair the House Judiciary Committee if Republicans control the chamber next year—described the FBI as being "rotted at its core" and claimed the agency to be full of "rampant corruption, manipulation and abuse."
Experts predict that if Trump wins 2024, these criticisms of the FBI will only be magnified. However, they said that if his second term is anything like his first, Trump won't do much to revamp the FBI.
"Trump complains about a lot of things but his follow through in his first term at least was pretty dim," Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Newsweek.
Andrew Busch, Claremont McKenna College's crown professor of government, agreed, telling Newsweek it is unclear whether Trump would give federal law enforcement reform "any sustained administrative attention" based on his first term, during which Trump also had a rocky relationship with the FBI.
Kamarck noted that Trump would also come up against legislative roadblocks because even if he were to be president, he would need congressional authority to overhaul the FBI. She said doing so would require Republicans to win by a much larger margin than projections are currently forecasting.
While conservative fears about a biased FBI may not be unreasonable, Busch said, "there is a danger that Trump will attempt to politicize it in the opposite direction" rather than reform the agency to be genuinely neutral, should Trump choose to address the bureau's current operations.
If Trump is elected for a second term, "it will be understood that all who work at the Department of Justice (DOJ) work for him, not the United States," Republican strategist Jay Townsend told Newsweek.
What's more likely to happen, experts say, is that Trump will make the shortcomings of the FBI a major talking point, yet stop short of doing anything to upend the bureau.
Busch said Trump would probably issue "an avalanche of social media posts calling for change in the FBI but would not engage in the nitty-gritty of changing it."
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more