The job description for FBI director under President Donald Trump includes an unusual requirement: personal loyalty to him.
Just after Trump took office, the new president summoned James Comey to the White House and asked the now-fired FBI chief to pledge loyalty to him, according to an associate who’s spoken directly with Comey in the past few days. Comey declined, instead telling Trump that he would always be honest, according to the
associate.
While Trump himself denies making that request of Comey, he’s shown he considers personal loyalty a paramount concern in staffing government, just as he did in his private business. For example, White House approval of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s choice to be the department’s top lawyer was delayed because the attorney, Brent McIntosh, had Twitter postings with links to articles criticizing Trump.
Loyalty scrubs are one reason Trump is behind in staffing key positions in cabinet agencies. He had nominated only 73 people for Senate-confirmed position by May 3 compared to 193 President Barack Obama had nominated over the same period, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
Trump came to value personal allegiance above nearly any other quality as he persevered through his business, financial, and political battles as a New York City real estate developer, longtime associates say. Asked during a 2014 speech about the trait he most looks for in an employee, his answer was unequivocal: loyalty.
Rule of Law
But the federal government isn’t a family business. And rather than fidelity to political patrons, the culture of the justice system and federal law enforcement traditionally has stressed commitment to the rule of law, the constitution, and the pursuit of investigations without political interference.
The FBI in particular has jealously guarded its independence, a principle embodied by the 10-year term for its director that’s supposed to insulate the agency from presidential meddling. In fact, then-FBI associate director Mark Felt has said he was motivated to reveal Richard Nixon’s Watergate cover-up as the Washington Post’s Deep Throat source because he thought FBI director Patrick Gray, a Nixon appointee, was subjugating the agency’s independence to protect the president. Any nominee to replace Comey will confront perilous cross-currents between Trump’s insistence on loyalty and demands for a commitment to independence — both from senators whose votes he or she will needs for confirmation, and an FBI rank and file whose confidence must be gained to effectively manage the agency.
When acting FBI director Andrew McCabe appeared before a Senate committee this week, its members sought — and received — assurances that he would notify them if Trump tried to interfere with the agency’s investigation of Russian meddling in the US election.
Job Interviews
That challenge is sure to confront potential successors to Comey, whom Justice Department officials were planning to begin interviewing on Saturday. Presidential historian Robert Dallek said Trump’s predecessors have mostly avoided explicit demands for pledges of loyalty for practical political reasons, even beyond the historical principle that high officials’ first allegiance should be to the constitution and country rather than one individual.
