Trump Cries ‘CORRUPTION!’ Over FBI Shutting DEI Office Before His White House Return

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 22: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 22, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. The annual four day conference geared toward energizing and connecting conservative youth hosts some of the country's leading conservative politicians and activists. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
Rebecca Noble / Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump has cried foul over the FBI shuttering its diversity, equity and inclusion wing just before his return to the White House.

Trump and his MAGA allies have long railed against DEI, which they see as a fast track for under-qualified people to attain jobs that would have otherwise gone to better-suited candidates without regard to ethnicity or gender. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), even accused the FBI of having “prioritized” DEI over “protecting the American people.”

The FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. / Yuri Gripas / REUTERS
The FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. / Yuri Gripas / REUTERS

There has, however, been a racist and sexist undertone to wider MAGA criticism of DEI schemes—which have even been blamed for the ferocity of the California wildfires.

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Any expectation, however, that Trump might be happy to see the curtain come down on the FBI’s diversity program was soon dashed. The president-elect found a way to blubber about that too, taking to Truth Social to complain about the timing of the move.

“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. Why is it that they’re closing one day before the Inauguration of a new Administration? The reason is, CORRUPTION!" he raged on his social media site.

The FBI says it actually began phasing out the office back in December. “In recent weeks, the FBI took steps to close the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), effective by December 2024,” a spokesperson told The National News Desk (TNND) on Thursday.

And while the FBI didn’t go into its reasoning, officials would have known that Trump would curtail the program after his inauguration on Jan. 20. His pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, has promised sweeping reforms if he is confirmed to head the agency.