Analysts say Donald Trump plans to fire his previously appointed FBI director and install a new one who is loyal to him, but there is bipartisan skepticism behind that plan, according to the Washington Post.
Trump has signaled his intent to prematurely end the 10-year maximum term of Chris Wray, whom Trump himself appointed, and instead appoint Kash Patel as the director. MAGA fans were outraged on Sunday, when they warned Patel about what they deemed a "snake" in his inner circle.
Patel has raised red flags from some elected officials, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers has expressed concern about Trump ending Wray's term early, according to the report.
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"President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he wants to replace FBI Director Christopher A. Wray with Kash Patel, a staunch loyalist who has vowed to fire the agency’s leadership and dramatically reshape its mission, was met with bipartisan concern that his appointment could undermine the agency’s independence," wrote the Post's Holly Bailey, Mariana Alfaro and Mark Berman on Sunday. "Republicans and Democrats alike argued that replacing Wray — who has held the job since 2017 — with Patel showcases Trump’s efforts to appoint close allies who espouse his views and have expressed support for his plans to take aim at the country’s justice system."
The article goes on to quote numerous lawmakers, including Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who said that Trump “has the right” to make appointments and that he was not surprised the president-elect is picking “people that he believes are very loyal to himself.”
"But he also praised Wray, calling him 'a very good man' and saying he’d had no 'complaints' or 'objections' about his stewardship of the agency. He noted that Trump appointed Wray to a 10-year term," the report says.
Rounds was hit with MAGA fury after his Wray comments.