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
Dan Scavino, a senior advisor to Donald Trump, said Friday that the president-elect is not planning to install former Rep. Mike Rogers as the head of the FBI.
“Just spoke to resident Trump regarding Mike Rogers going to the FBI. It’s not happening — In his own words, “I have never even given it a thought.’ Not happening,” Scavino wrote on X.
It’s the latest tweet offering insight into Trump’s plans for the FBI, where Director Christopher Wray would otherwise be set to finish out his term in 2027.
Rogers, who was for roughly five years a FBI special agent, served multiple terms in Congress and also served as the Republican leader on the House Intelligence Committee for four years, making him a more traditional pick to lead the agency.
But speculation has been swirling that Trump could tap Kash Patel, a controversial figure from his first administration who held numerous national security posts.
“No part of the FBI’s mission is safe with Kash Patel in any position of leadership in the FBI, and certainly not in the Deputy Director’s job,” former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday evening, adding that “The scope of authority is enormous.”
“If you enter into that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and destroy the organization, there is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do,” he said.
Vice President-elect JD Vance earlier this week deleted a tweet after he revealed the transition team was meeting with prospective candidates – a sign of their plans to replace Wray.
Patel is a Trump loyalist who sparked internal battles during Trump’s first term and has echoed Trump’s arguments that the FBI is a weaponized agency that improperly investigated him.
“The Deep State can not be trusted. They have weaponized the government for their own political and personal agenda,” Patel wrote in an email last week from his foundation, calling the investigation into Trump’s Russia ties “fraud.”