By Steve Neavling
Former President Donald Trump insisted the FBI headquarters should stay in Washington D.C., even as the Biden administration moves forward with building the new headquarters in Maryland.
“THE NEW FBI BUILDING SHOULD BE BUILT IN WASHINGTON, D.C., NOT MARYLAND, AND BE THE CENTERPIECE OF MY PLAN TO TOTALLY RENOVATE AND REBUILD OUR CAPITAL CITY INTO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND SAFEST ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump added, “THE FBI MUST BE IN WALKING DISTANCE TO THE DOJ BUILDING IN THAT THE DOJ & FBI HAVE TO WORK CLOSELY TOGETHER. A TWO MINUTE WALK TO A MEETING IS FAR BETTER THAN A TRAFFIC LADEN TWO HOUR DRIVE TO GREENBELT, MARYLAND.”
In November, the Biden administration announced plans to build the new headquarters in Greenbelt, Md., instead of alternatives in Landover, Md., or Springfield, Va. The new campus is expected to be built on an empty 61-acre plot outside the Greenbelt Metro station.
Whether that could change if Trump is elected president is an open question.
The current headquarters, a brutalist, concrete building just blocks from the White House, is too cramped and out-of-date for it roughly 5,500 employees.
As president, Trump was responsible for delaying construction of a new headquarters as he called for the building to be constructed in Washington D.C. At the time, he came under fire when critics suggested his motive was to prevent a hotel from being built at the site of the current headquarters, which was just blocks from a hotel he owned.
Trump also has been a constant critic of the FBI, which he has baselessly claimed has been out to get him.
