‘CORRUPTION!’ Trump Signals Criminal Investigation With Demand FBI ‘Preserve and Retain All Records’ of Closed DEI Office

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President-elect Donald Trump signalled he might investigate the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Office of Diversity, and Inclusion, demanding the agency “preserve and retain all records, documents” after the organization shuttered the office the month after Trump’s election win.

The DEI office within the FBI closed its doors in December 2024, according to Fox News, but did not give a reason as to why. Trump and his pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, have been hostile to DEI agencies as being a distraction for national security.

Trump took to Truth Social Thursday to accuse the FBI of “corruption” in closing the office and demanded records of DEI activities be kept, an indication that he may use these to investigate when he takes office.

Sharing a Mediaite article that reported on the office closure, Trump wrote:

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!

Screengrab via Truth Social.

Notably, it is a legal requirement that agencies maintain records and document all activities concerning organization, policies, decisions, procedures, and transactions under the Federal Records Act (FRA). The FRA also requires agencies to manage and dispose of these records according to established schedules.