So far Trump has not participated in the transition protocols that involve FBI investigation of his nominees.
Trump’s transition team has also dispensed with the FBI’s role, in place since before World War II, in performing the background checks that form the backbone of security clearances for political appointees. By law these checks must be performed by federal employees, not private contractors with no agency oversight, to ensure that key decisions affecting public trust are made by “accountable government officials,” according to federal statute.
Trump bears deep animus against the FBI, according to the people familiar with his transition process. FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago for classified materials in a case that resulted in federal charges, and he has pledged wholesale changes at the agency and at the Justice Department.
The FBI would normally have begun vetting a president-elect’s transition team before Election Day, as well as his choices for Cabinet positions and other top staff jobs. Thus far, Trump has left the job of vetting candidates to Stanley Woodward, a D.C. lawyer on his campaign who has represented several Jan. 6 rioters and Trump associates caught up in the classified documents case, according to transition staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the decision.