The possibility of President-elect Donald Trump replacing FBI Director Christopher Wray has gained traction in recent days as separate factions of the Republican Party prop up possible candidates.
Kash Patel, who served in senior advisory roles in the intelligence community and State Department during the first Trump administration, is the preferred candidate of the MAGA faction of the Republican Party and has proposed drastic reforms for the nation’s premier domestic intelligence agency. Meanwhile, former Rep. Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican and former FBI special agent, once served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and is seen as a candidate with a more centrist approach.
Other possible candidates, including former U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Mark Morgan and former U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen of Missouri, were floated in a CNN report. However, Trump could always come up with a surprise candidate who has not appeared on any of the short lists, just as he did when he announced former Rep. Matt Gaetz as his attorney general nominee.
But regardless of whom it could be, those in Trump’s orbit have shown an increased enthusiasm for prematurely replacing Wray, whose 10-year term began in 2017, when Trump appointed him after firing former FBI Director James Comey.
Vice President-elect J.D. Vance revealed Tuesday in a since-deleted post on X that Trump was actively interviewing candidates.
“When the 11th Circuit vote happened, I was meeting with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director,” Vance wrote, adding that he thought it was “more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state” than appear for the Senate vote.
The FBI declined to comment on the prospect of Wray being pushed out early. A spokesman for Vance did not respond to a request for comment.
Whomever Trump chooses would have to survive a Senate confirmation fight, where opposition from three Republicans would be enough to sink his preferred candidate.
Rogers would have an easier confirmation path. According to Semafor, at least one Democrat, Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), has already shown an openness to Rogers, describing him as a “straight shooter” and Patel as more focused on promoting Trump messaging.
Some senators, including frequent GOP defector Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), have also voiced support for Rogers, according to the report.
“I am a big fan of Mike Rogers, and should there be an opening, he would be my choice,” Collins said.
During his campaign for Senate in Michigan, in which he narrowly lost, Rogers called for reforms to the DOJ and the FBI, saying the agencies have breached Fourth Amendment privacy rights and targeted political opponents. However, Rogers has stopped short of calling to disband the FBI’s presence in Washington, as Patel has.
Patel, an attorney, rose to prominence by working as an aide under former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes as they fought allegations that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia. Patel developed a loyalist stance toward Trump, eventually working in Trump’s first administration in various roles and joining the board of the Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Trump’s social media platform Truth Social.
Patel often criticizes bureaucratic inefficiency and authored a book last year in which he gave a road map for rooting out what he described as the “deep state.” Trump touted the book on Truth Social as the key to “end the Deep State’s reign,” a reference to Trump’s longtime mission to fire swaths of career government employees whom he perceives as useless or insubordinate.
In a podcast shared on X, Patel also weighed in on the longtime battle over the FBI headquarters building. While the bureau has pressed forward with its multibillion-dollar plan to build a new complex in Maryland to replace its headquarters in Washington, the deteriorating J. Edgar Hoover Building, Patel said the roughly 7,000 FBI employees stationed in the headquarters serve no purpose by working in the District of Columbia.
“I’d shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day One and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state, and I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals,” Patel said. “Go be cops. You’re cops. Go be cops.”
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A spokesman for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), one of Trump’s most outspoken right-wing supporters, told the Washington Examiner she was hoping to see Patel take the role.
Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast has been aggressively propping up Patel. Bannon, a fervent Trump supporter, said on one of his recent shows that he heard that the president-elect nominated Patel but then retracted the comment Monday.
