Dating back to his first presidential campaign, President-elect Donald Trump has had a contentious relationship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which he likely intends to overhaul and reform during his impending second term in office.

As such, it has been reported that Trump's transition team is not submitting his various nominees to the FBI to undergo background checks and security clearance reviews, and is instead relying on private investigators to vet those individuals on his behalf, according to CNN.

The likely reasons why Trump is bypassing the FBI are because the bureau takes too long to complete the checks and reviews, can dig up and leak potentially embarrassing but non-criminal personal information, and because the bureau's leadership is no longer trusted to be nonpartisan but instead has been weaponized against him and his allies.

Trump team using private investigators instead of FBI for background checks

Multiple media outlets, including The Guardian, reported before the election that the Trump transition team was passing around a memo that advised Trump and his senior advisors to skip past the FBI and hire private investigative agencies to conduct background checks on his eventual appointees for various positions in an administration.

The impetus for that decision is a concern that the politicized and untrustworthy FBI could interminably drag out and delay the background checks and security reviews, as the bureau did following Trump's 2016 election win, or leak potentially damaging but non-criminal information to the incoming president's political opponents.

Notably, though it has been the norm since the aftermath of World War II and the start of the Cold War, there is no law that mandates FBI background checks on presidential appointees.

Relatedly, it has also been affirmed by the Supreme Court that a president can grant security clearances to whomever they desire, meaning the FBI is not required to conduct security clearance reviews, though Trump would have to wait until after he is sworn in to exercise that authority, which means that his appointees would have to likewise wait until then to receive classified briefings that require such clearances.

Following those initial reports before the election, CNN has now confirmed that President-elect Trump's team has in fact not submitted the names of his various appointees or their requisite consent to the FBI to begin conducting background checks and security clearance reviews.

FBI whistleblower confirms Trump teams' concerns are valid

Yet, while much of the media has scoffed at or registered their disapproval of the Trump team's unconventional avoidance of the FBI in this matter, the stated concerns are valid and legitimate, according to The Washington Times.

An FBI official turned whistleblower recently alerted Congress and the Trump transition team that the security clearance division of the bureau, known as SecD, was "politicized and can’t be trusted" to appropriately vet Trump's appointees in a quick or neutral manner, as the security clearance process has been "contaminated by the political agendas of [Security Division] officials and other executives in the FBI."

The whistleblower noted in their complaint that under the current FBI leadership, including Director Chris Wray, "SecD refused clearances to U.S. military veterans, employees who refused to get Covid shots, employees who attended Trump rallies and employees with conservative Christian beliefs. "

"The same FBI officials will be adjudicating President Trump’s nominees. Deputy Director Abbate and Director Wray will have unfettered access to any information that President Trump’s appointees provide during their security clearance background investigation," the complaint continued. "There is no wall between the background investigation data held by SecD and the Director’s Office.  Anyone providing information to the FBI for background investigations should assume that the information, along with all associated electronic inquiries, will be provided to Deputy Director Abbate, Director Wray or even officials in the current White House administration for 'national security reasons.'"

Why use the FBI when Trump can do it himself?

Further warning about the prospect of background check information being leaked to Trump's political opponents, the whistleblower asserted, "Based on statements that the FBI top leadership should be cleaned out, senior FBI officials have a personal interest in protecting their positions by providing background information to other agencies or giving informal briefings."

That right there should suffice as reason enough for Trump to continue to refuse to subject his nominees to background checks by an FBI that has repeatedly proven itself to be partisan and weaponized against him, especially when those checks can be conducted more efficiently by trusted private investigators and when security clearances can be granted directly by Trump, albeit after he has formally taken office.