FIRST ON FOX – Will the second time be the charm for one-time Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent and former Rep. Mike Rogers?
Rogers, the 2024 Republican Senate nominee in Michigan who lost his election last week by a razor-thin margin, met Thursday with President-elect Trump’s transition team regarding potentially serving as FBI director in the former and future president’s second administration, sources familiar tell Fox News.
The meeting took place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Rogers worked as a special agent with the FBI in its Chicago office and who served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee during the final four years of his decade-long tenure in Congress, was interviewed in 2017 during Trump’s first administration to serve as FBI director after James Comey was dismissed.
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FBI Director Christopher Wray recites the Pledge of Allegiance during the House Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” in Rayburn building on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
But Trump at the time decided to appoint Christopher Wray to the traditional ten-year term steering the federal law enforcement agency.
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Trump, throughout his 2024 White House bid, campaigned in part on cleaning house at the FBI and has repeatedly claimed – without providing proof -that the bureau is chocked full of politically motivated and corrupt executives. And while not as much as others, Wray at times has been a target of Trump’s criticism.
Republican Senate nominee in Michigan and former Rep. Mike Rogers speaks alongside Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump during a campaign event hosted by Trump at the Falk Productions manufacturing facility on Sept. 27, 2024 in Walker, Mich. ( Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“Mike Rogers would make a ton of sense as FBI Director for President Trump. Mike’s years of service for the bureau as well as his time as House Intelligence Chairman make him highly qualified for the position, one that I’m sure he would be honored to serve in under this administration and help bring integrity back to the DOJ [Department of Justice],” a source familiar told Fox News.
Rogers, a well known face on the cable news networks, in 2022 and early 2023 mulled a run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and made multiple stops in crucial early nominating states, like New Hampshire and Iowa, before deciding against a White House run.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate nominee in Michigan, speaks at a Trump campaign rally headlined by running mate Sen. JD Vance, in Byron Center, Michigan on August 14, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
He launched his 2024 Senate run in battleground Michigan in September of last year and early this year landed Trump’s endorsement. He was narrowly defeated last week by Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin in the race to succeed retiring longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
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Another name that has been floated in media reports to potentially serve as FBI director in the second Trump administration is Kash Patel, the controversial aide and adviser who served roles at the National Security Council and Defense Department during the final two years of Trump’s first administration.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
