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Donald Trump's new FBI director is breaking down the wall that is supposed to exist between his department and the Oval Office with a series of requests that would have been unthinkable during previous administrations.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Kash Patel, a longtime ally of the president who was confirmed by the narrowest of margins in the U.S. Senate, proposed being given direct phone lines to Trump from his office and his home which would allow him to speak with the president without going through the Department of Justice as has been customary.

Patel, whose first move after being confirmed was kicking all the existing executive staffers off the seventh floor where his office is, quickly asked about "an arrangement outside the traditional chain of command in which the FBI director reports to the deputy attorney general, and the president usually talks only to the attorney general," the Journal's C. Ryan Barber, Josh Dawsey and Sadie Gurman reported late Friday.

ALSO READ:'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

The report notes, "It is but one example of how on matters big and small administration officials including Patel and senior officials at the Justice Department have deferred to Trump and his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller," before adding, "Now, after years of clashing with the Justice Department amid federal investigations into his conduct, Trump has made remaking the institution the centerpiece of his agenda."

According to the Journal, Patel has also checked into hiring his own private security detail despite the FBI already supplying him with agents designated for his protection.

The Journal report states, "Patel asked about having a separate detail, in an apparent suggestion that he didn’t fully trust the FBI agents, according to people familiar with the request."

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Staffing cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the Social Security Administration could lead to more than 73 million retirees facing delayed payments or worse and a "system collapse" according to a former commissioner.

With senior officials at the agency being dumped by Donald Trump's administration as part of its government purge, and the department temporarily being headed by a former analyst with no management experience, CNN is reporting that ex-commissioner Martin O’Malley is raising red flags that it could all fall apart within 90 days.

Speaking with CNN, he warned, "Everything they’re doing is driving this agency to system collapse. It will lead to interruptions in service, and that will ultimately cascade into more frequent system interruptions for the processing of claims, ultimately leading to system collapse and eventually the interruption of benefits.”

ALSO READ: Elon Musk's DOGE boys think this is a video game as Trump plots his 2nd coup

According to the CNN report, "... the [agency] overhaul lacks strategic planning, which could have serious ramifications for an agency that has never missed a benefits payment in its 90-year history, according to advocates and employees CNN interviewed. The focus is on swiftly shrinking Social Security’s staff with little thought given to making it function more efficiently or transferring the knowledge of those who depart, several said."

Jack Smalligan, who served in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) where he focused on Social Security, echoed O'Malley's concerns.

“We have a bunch of individuals with no or little experience in the operations of the agency trying to run one of the most important benefit programs in our country,” he explained. "The downsizing is happening in such an unstructured, unplanned manner, it puts the agency at special risk.”

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Donald Trump allies burdened by criminal convictions are getting in line for what could be a new wave of pardons during his second term after his White House "sidelined" the office where recommendations were traditionally made.

According to a report from the New York Times' Kenneth Vogel, lawyers and lobbyists, many collecting massive fees, are taking their pitches directly to the president and White House insiders by emphasizing their clients' loyalty to the current occupant in the Oval Office.

Following Trump's mass pardon of Jan. 6 insurrectionists, there is a new team in the White House whose job it is to " focus on clemency grants that underscore the president’s own grievances about what he sees as the political weaponization of the justice system."

ALSO READ:'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

"Clemency petitioners are mostly circumventing that system, tailoring their pitches to the president by emphasizing their loyalty to him and echoing his claims of political persecution," the report notes before adding "According to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Trump’s White House had marginalized the pardon attorney’s office, shifting control of much of the clemency operation to the White House Counsel’s Office."

According to Rachel E. Barkow, a professor at New York University School of Law, "The potential for corruption is higher ... Because they’re starting early, they have figured out how they want to set it up so that people have a pipeline to get to them. Like any sequel, it’s going to be worse.”

Alex Little, a former federal prosecutor, has three clients in the pipeline who are "seeking clemency with appeals that mirror Mr. Trump’s grievances," the report states with Little admitting, "There are key players in the Trump administration who have had a front-row seat to prosecutorial misconduct. It changes your perspective on these issues, and it’s difficult to ignore that when you’re back in government.”

You can read more here.