President-elect Donald Trump will return to Washington, D.C., soon, and a handful of powerful people who are still there because the former president put them in their positions don’t plan on leaving.
Three notable federal government agents are not planning on leaving their posts: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and TSA Administrator David Pekoske. All three men were Trump appointees with some being reconfirmed under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
Powell is perhaps the most notably defiant of the bunch. When asked by reporters recently if he would step down if Trump requested it, Powell responded with a one-word answer: “No.”
Powell also said his removal would be “not permitted under the law,” when asked whether he thinks the president has the legal authority to intervene in the Fed by either firing or demoting him.
Trump has aired grievances about the Fed’s decision-making during his first administration and has expressed that discontent while campaigning. He has accused Powell of being too political and has said he wishes for the executive branch to have more power over the Fed.
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“I feel the president should have at least a say in there. Yeah, I feel that strongly,” Trump said in an Aug. 8 press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “I think that, in my case, I made a lot of money, I was very successful, and I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman.”
In 2017, Trump nominated Powell to lead the Fed and he was confirmed by the Senate with an 84–13 vote. He was re-nominated by Biden and confirmed by the Senate in November 2021. His term as Fed chair ends May 15, 2026.
FBI Director Christopher Wray
Following Trump dismissing former FBI Director James Comey, Trump nominated Christopher Wray to take over his post. He was confirmed by the Senate in a 92–5 vote.
Wray is set to remain in the post through 2027 as it is a 10-year term, but Vice President-elect J.D. Vance this week posted on social media that he and Trump were together to “interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director.”
Vance later deleted the post, as some speculated it indicated that Trump’s upcoming administration was looking to dismiss Wray. Wray, like Comey, can be removed by the president if he so wishes, regardless of term length. Comey was dismissed four years into his term.
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Both Wray and Trump’s team are planning for the possibility that Wray will be replaced in the upcoming administration, according to NBC News.
Wray suggested in an interview last spring that he’d like to stay in his job if Trump wins, as long as the FBI can maintain its longstanding standards not to bring politics into its investigations.
“As long as I think I can continue doing that in a way that adheres to all those rules and norms, it’s what I’d like to keep doing,” he told the outlet.
Trump and his allies have floated options for who would replace Wray should he be dismissed or if he leaves.
Kash Patel and former Rep. Mike Rogers’s names have gained traction. Patel is the preferred candidate of the MAGA faction of the Republican Party as he has proposed sweeping reforms for the country’s top domestic intelligence agency. Rogers, a Michigan Republican and former FBI special agent, once served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and is seen as having a more centrist approach.
TSA administrator David Pekoske
In 2017, Trump nominated Pekoske to the role of TSA administrator and he was confirmed in the Senate by a 77-18 vote. In 2022, Pekoske was confirmed again by the Senate to a second five-year term in the role. Pekoske’s current term would then be up in 2027.
Pekoske recently made clear that he is hoping to stay until his term ends in 2027.
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“It’s important for continuity in TSA to run the second term to its conclusion,” he said, adding that he “loves” the role.
Pekoske leads a workforce of around 60,000 employees at nearly 430 airports nationwide.