Trump blasts FBI’s now-shuttered DEI office and hints at an investigation ahead of White House return
President-elect Donald Elect Donald Trump has indicated that he may order an investigation of the FBI’s shuttered Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
“We demand that the FBI preserve and retain all records, documents, and information on the now closing DEI Office—Never should have been opened and, if it was, should have closed long ago,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. “Why is it that they’re closing one day before the Inauguration of a new Administration? The reason is, CORRUPTION!”
The office was closed last month, following Trump’s November election win.
“In recent weeks, the FBI took steps to close the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), effective by December 2024,” the FBI told Fox News Digital Thursday.
The agency didn’t provide a reason for shutting down the office, but both Trump and his nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, have been aggressively negative about diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Under the Federal Records Act, agencies are required to retain records and documents covering a range of matters and policies.
While it remains unclear why the ODI was closed down, many Republicans have argued that its focus on inclusion overshadowed national security.
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn sent a letter earlier this month to outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray in which she argued that “radical” DEI initiatives had “endangered” Americans after the attack in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
"I am deeply concerned that—under your leadership—the Bureau has prioritized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives over its core mission of protecting the American people," she wrote in the letter on January 3.
Following the announcement of the closure of the ODI, Blackburn wrote on X: “The question is why were they allowed to be focused on DEI in the first place? The FBI should be focused on catching criminals, not winning participation trophies.”
