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Republicans are waging their own internal fight over the next FBI director, a clash that pits a Donald Trump loyalist against a former congressional intelligence chairman who’s well liked on Capitol Hill.
At the moment, the two leading choices to lead the FBI in Trump’s second term are Kash Patel — a former Trump administration official who’s talked openly about revenge on the president-elect’s enemies — and former Rep. Mike Rogers, who just narrowly lost a Senate bid with Trump’s endorsement. Their rivalry is a microcosm of the tension simmering within the GOP as Trump prepares to take office, between his loyalists and the party’s more establishment-minded players.
Some of Trump’s cabinet picks are popular among party leaders, like Sen. Marco Rubio’s elevation as secretary of state, while others — like former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s nod to be attorney general — are rankling Republican senators who will have to vote on Trump’s selections. In the case of the FBI, many Republicans are touting Rogers while saying they are unfamiliar with Patel.
Rogers “would be outstanding,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who campaigned with the Michigander and said she didn’t know “anything” about Patel, told Semafor.
Picking the former House intelligence committee chief “would be bold,” Britt added, saying Rogers “would get the FBI back on track, and I think he has the background and experience to really lead.”
The FBI director is a particularly sensitive position for Trump, who fired former Director James Comey and is expected to quickly try to replace Wray, Comey’s successor, whose term does not expire until 2027. Trump’s frustration with Wray and the bureau for perceived politicization of its investigations has not abated following the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in 2022, and the next FBI director’s job will be extremely challenging given how closely Trump monitors the agency.
Recognizing that reality, some senators were careful to boost Rogers while emphasizing that Wray remains on the job. Rogers met with the Trump transition team last week.
“Mike Rogers is a terrific guy. I don’t know Kash Patel. But, is Christopher Wray going to resign? That’s a 10-year term, so it may be a little premature,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, whom Trump once considered to lead the bureau. (Cornyn made clear that “no,” he’s not interested this time around either.)
The MAGA wing of the party, like longtime Trump ally Roger Stone and his own son Donald Jr., are pushing for Patel. On the other side of the debate are more conventional Republicans, who are pushing for Rogers, two people close to the transition team said.
“If they aren’t bloody, if they don’t have scars from one of the get Trump ‘scandals,’ then they’re for Rogers,” said one of the people close to the transition. The second of the two said Patel has support from conservative media and people from the last Trump administration “who fear being totally shut out.”
Ironically, Patel endorsed Rogers’ Senate campaign this year, describing him as someone “who will hold the FBI and DOJ accountable.”
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The level of Senate support for Rogers might not matter in the end. People inside Trump’s network have insisted that his picks will get confirmed regardless, arguing that his decisive electoral win has shown lawmakers that voters support his choices.
And Patel has his own backers in the Senate. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said that he’d support the former Trump adviser, whose positions during the first term included chief of staff to the acting defense secretary.
“He’d be great. Smart, knows a lot about law enforcement. He’s loyal to the president. And those are pretty much the top requirements,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who said Rogers “might be good” too but that he wasn’t as familiar with the former lawmaker.
Given the tough road facing picks like Gaetz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services chief, however, it’s clear that Rogers would be an easier pick for Trump to get through the Senate.
Rogers completed a political 180-degree turn from his past criticism of Trump over the past year-plus, winning Trump’s backing in this year’s Senate primary and then nearly claiming the open seat won by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. As a former intelligence chair and FBI agent, Rogers’ credentials are obvious to his backers.
“I am a big fan of Mike Rogers, and should there be an opening, he would be my choice,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
The View From Democrats
Republicans don’t need Democratic votes next year to confirm Trump’s picks, but it doesn’t hurt to have an FBI director with bipartisan buy-in — which Rogers might well win. The Senate might be able to confirm Rogers more quickly than Patel if Democrats eased his path to nomination.
“I served with him and I think he’s a straight shooter. What I saw with Kash Patel is, he was on the 24/7 Trump messaging team” for an FBI director, said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., a former House member who noted the value of “impartiality” in the role.
Burgess and Shelby’s View
The FBI director position offers a clear decision tree for Trump. Down one path is a disruptive pick in Patel, who could cause a tough confirmation fight over installing an ally in a position of great interest to him. Down another path is a more traditional pick in Rogers who has bipartisan appeal in the Capitol and could be confirmed more easily.
And Trump could go either way; look at his nominations of the stylistically opposed Rubio and Gaetz for equally important positions. If anything is clear about his tapestry of administration picks, though, it’s that he doesn’t mind taking a harder road to get an outcome that he wants — in this case, an FBI director who is 100 percent in line with him.