Instead, the president-elect’s team is turning to private companies to vet administrative staff, people familiar with the transition planning told CNN. Trump criticized the FBI for its slow investigative process and feared it would delay his ability to push his agenda.

A security clearance is required for some Cabinet positions, such as attorney general, and the process for obtaining one includes an FBI background check.

Dan Meyer, national security attorney, said CNN Trump’s distrust of the FBI and the deep state made him completely dishonest.

(They) “don’t want the FBI to coordinate a norm. They want to set the norm,” Meyer told CNN.

The Trump transition team’s decision to bypass FBI background checks comes as Trump nominated former representatives Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard for attorney general and director of National Intelligence, respectively — both controversial picks.

Gaetz was previously the focus of a Justice Department investigation into sex-trafficking allegations, but the department did not charge him. The House Ethics Committee also investigated Gaetz, but that investigation ended after he resigned from his congressional position to accept his nomination.

As for Gabbard, she has previously made sympathetic comments for the United States’ foreign adversaries.

She met Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose regime is backed by Iran and Russia, in 2017 and then said two years later that he was “not an enemy of the United States”.

Tulsi also said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was prompted by the US ignoring the Kremlin’s concerns about Ukraine joining NATO.

During his 2016 transition, Trump ignored protocol and ordered 25 appointees to receive security clearance. However, the request was rejected due to possible security issues.

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However, Trump does not have the power to compel security clearances and briefings until after his inauguration.

Mirroring 2016, Trump’s transition team is choosing not to adhere to protocol, not signing memorandums of understanding and non-disclosure agreements and sending a list of names to officials of people to be formally vetted.