Summary

Donald Trump’s transition team plans to grant sweeping security clearances to cabinet picks before traditional FBI background checks, delaying vetting until the new administration takes over the bureau and installs its own officials.

This move could bypass FBI scrutiny and delay classified briefings until Trump’s January 20 inauguration.

The approach reflects Trump’s distrust of the FBI, rooted in its role during the Russia investigation, and mirrors past controversies like Jared Kushner’s delayed clearance, which Trump overrode despite FBI and CIA concerns.

Critics warn this could undermine vetting and create potential security risks.

  • @Feathercrown
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    81 hour ago

    If the security has exceptions, it’s not security.

  • @irotsoma
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    142 hours ago

    Basically he already knows his picks are susceptible to foreign influence, because many are already under foreign influence, so background checks would just complicate things. He doesn’t care about protecting national secrets as evidenced by him stealing them and storing them in his resort without much security.

    • @Goodmorningsunshine
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      321 minutes ago

      We get that HE doesn’t care, but why tf doesn’t America? Why would these vetting institutions just waive the standard?

  • @Gradually_Adjusting
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    1239 hours ago

    It’s 2024, Democrats are fiscally responsible and tough on Russia while Republicans are subversive deviants with criminal tendencies and Russian leanings

    I feel like I was born in a virtual universe contrived by the telling of a weird joke that will cease to exist as soon as the punchline arrives.

    • @givesomefucks
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      459 hours ago

      Nah. The rich just realized they can buy off the only two options.

      That’s why since Bill Clinton both parties have moved to the right, deregulated political donations, and suddenly they need over a billion dollars each election, even though no one you’ve ever met has been influenced by a political ad.

      They don’t need that much money, they just say they do to rationalize why they keep moving right.

      If we ran a candidate that agreed with Dem voters, we’d never need to spend close to a billion to beat trump.

      And to clarify neither party is “fiscally responsible” now a days, if they were they’d plan long term and invest in things like education. But both parties prefer dumb voters who blindly vote straight ticket.

      • @AA5B
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        124 hours ago

        Yet one of the parties is trying to invest in long term things like education, climate, infrastructure, trying to bring manufacturing back to the US, strengthen unions……

        If my government is going to be irresponsible with money, I’d much rather it be for long term investments than lining the pockets of the wealthy or connected

        • @[email protected]
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          1 hour ago

          Well at least they say they’re “trying” on paper. Unfortunately, they’re either lying or incompetent because they sure as hell aren’t succeeding at any of this and keep letting Republicans win elections by being so ineffective.

          It’s not too different than your boss telling you that they’re “really trying to get you a raise” year after year as you fall deeper and deeper into the hole meanwhile you see him buying his 14th house.

          • @givesomefucks
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            059 minutes ago

            Sssshhhhh…

            How have you forgotten?

            We give neoliberals credit when they say they’ll fix something, not when they actually do it.

            If we only gave them credit for things they’ve done, people are going to ask why we’ve devoted 30 years of the Dem party to Jimmy Carvil’s best cryptkeeper impression?

  • @[email protected]
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    439 hours ago

    Trump’s team has regarded the FBI background check process with contempt for months, a product of their deep distrust of the bureau ever since officials turned over transition records to the Russia investigation during the first Trump presidency, the people said.

    Investigate me for colluding with a foreign power once, shame on you. Investigate me twice for colluding with a foreign power…

    But delaying FBI vetting could also bring ancillary PR benefits for the Trump team if some political appointees run into problems during a background check, which could upend their Senate confirmation process, or if they struggle to obtain security clearances once in the White House.

    This is the actual answer, if somewhat buried. After they’re in place, any blowback will be after-the-fact and treated as “oh well” by the media and public.

    “The Trump-Vance transition lawyers continue to constructively engage with the Biden-Harris administration lawyers regarding all agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act. We will update you once a decision is made,” Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.

    Let me guess, the decision is coming in two weeks?

  • @xenomor
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    8 hours ago

    Americans deserve the damage this administration will do to our security. Americans deserve the economic hit we are about to take. Americans deserve the loss of freedoms we are suffering. Americans deserve the lies and gaslighting and false piety and manufactured consent being pumped at us on these screens. Americans deserve the further entrenchment of this new ruling feudal class. Americans deserve to watch the oligarchs flout the same laws that bind everyone else. Americans deserve the avoidable illnesses and untreated suffering that the rest of the world is organized to treat. Americans deserve all the violence that a self-serving authoritarian regime always needs to sustain itself.

    Don’t ever let your drooling, bigoted, cowardly compatriots forget that we chose all this. The fuckers didn’t even need to undermine the election. We Americans are stupid enough to just hand our own wellbeing over to these rich assholes willingly.

    • @[email protected]
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      7 hours ago

      As humans living in a country called The United States of America, what The People deserve is a form of government that protects its people from lies and disinformation. In the twenty first century, that requires more regulation than the founders of the country had imagined or provisioned for in The Constitution.

      The idea that a Free Society is one with less government involvement is a lie. Government exists, ideally, to protect and ensure fair opportunity for The People. The government of the US has, since its inception, always existed to ensure opportunity for the wealthy land and business owners who don’t want to pay taxes.

      No person deserves what you’ve claimed. The People have been lied to. They’ve been manipulated and spoken down to. Propaganda and brain washing is not the fault of The People. “Stupidity” (your words) is no excuse for a representative government to take advantage of The People.

      Do Not Blame The People.

      Blame the founders, blame the courts, blame the corporations, blame Congress, blame Wall Street, blame Reagan, blame Trump, blame Biden. If anyone deserves illness, it’s this group.

      What The People of America deserve is a government that represents and works for them. One that ensures equal rights and equity for all. One that earns the trust of The People so when they tell you something good or bad is happening, you believe them. Humans deserve a life free of undeserved obstacles and one free of blatant, verifiably false lies benefiting corporations and political leaders. And, we deserve a free and robust Press.

      • anon6789
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        105 hours ago

        I second this. I don’t want my government to hurt anyone, even people who are ignorant or hateful.

        I certainly didn’t vote for what’s coming, and millions of others didn’t either. Countries that rely on us didn’t vote for it. Our environment didn’t vote for it. And I’m sure most of the people that were duped into voting for it didn’t really want what we’re going to get either. Some dirtbags probably did, but I think they’re still a minority, and I’d still rather those people have a chance to become good people than for them to suffer. I’d still want them to have access to free education and universal healthcare and a full social safety net if I had the power to give it to them.

        We won’t be able to walk back a lot of what might happen. We could lose millions of acres of public land to private interest. Untold destruction could destroy our remaining ecosystems irreparably. We’ve got anti-vaxxers that could kill thousands to millions. We’ve got people that want to let Palestinians, Ukrainians, and Kurds die. That stuff can’t be undone, and those people and our planet don’t deserve it because some con artists did a great job on propaganda this last half century.