Self-deportation comes to Washington as bureaucrats abandon jobs ahead of Trump’s return

Government bureaucrats are abandoning ship ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, anticipating either their termination or an intolerable upending of the status quo at their agencies.

Trump has vowed to thoroughly overhaul the executive branch agencies, in part through his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The duo have called for drastically reducing the size of the government bureaucracy by encouraging voluntary departures through the end of remote work and the relocation of key agencies out of the D.C. area.

Thus far, it seems to be Trump’s appointees, and the prospect of working under them, that is doing much of the heavy lifting in driving out longtime agency employees. Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for instance, caused such an uproar within the Department of Justice over the prospect of his confirmation as attorney general that it prompted a litany of headlines about “anxiety” within the DOJ and potential mass retirements.

Though Gaetz withdrew his nomination, the phenomenon appears to go beyond the Florida lawmaker and high profile officials have resigned from other agencies ahead of their impending replacement. Trump’s backup pick of ex-Florida AG Pam Bondi appears to have DOJ officials quaking in their boots.

Some key government officials, including those whose posts are not necessarily tied to political appointments, have taken it upon themselves to exit government service in light of the initiative and Trump’s return.

Christopher Wray resigns as FBI director

Wray replaced James Comey as FBI director after Trump fired Comey in his first term. Wray could have conceivably stayed on for a few more years as the office has a ten-year service limit. But Trump previously made clear his dissatisfaction with Wray and nominated Kash Patel, a stalwart loyalist and former federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice to succeed him.

Rather than face termination, Wray resigned this week and cleared the way for Trump to put Patel in the post. Despite some internal agency grumblings, Patel seems to have a clear path to confirmation, with even moderate and neoconservative lawmakers expressing optimism that he will secure confirmation to the post.

Wray’s management of the FBI came under intense scrutiny from conservatives, especially during the Biden administration, over its apparent politicization and targeting of conservative parents and Christians as potential "domestic terrorists." . Patel, for his part, has previously described a system within the bureau wherein those responsible for mistakes often receive promotions to mask broader FBI errors.

"Every person implicated in your mistakes has an interest in covering up what they did, so they will promote you. That means the people at the very top are usually the most immoral, unethical people in the entire agency,” he wrote in his 2023 book “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.”

Patel has vowed a large-scale “house cleaning” effort to reform the bureau and is thoroughly on board with relocating portions of the FBI out of D.C.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Chief Whitaker to resign

FAA chief Michael Whitaker announced on Thursday that he would resign in January, after serving since October 2023. The job is typically a five-year post and Whitaker’s departure opens the path for Trump to pick a replacement. His resignation led to bipartisan disappointment in light of broad approval of his handling of the position. 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for instance, said that Whitaker had “ably led the agency during a challenging period” while Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., called his resignation “unfortunate.”

The FAA chief works with the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, an ordinarily non-contentious post that has attracted attention under the Biden administration amid train derailments and mass airport disruptions and closures.

“This has been the best and most challenging job of my career,” he said.

Trump has nominated former Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wisc., to serve as Transportation secretary, but has yet to announce a successor for Whitaker.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler to resign in January

Gensler announced in late November that he would step down on Jan. 20, despite his term ending in 2026, NPR reported at the time. Security and Exchange Commision (SEC) chairs serve a five-year term and the president can’t technically fire Gensler, despite his vow to do so. His resignation solved that issue for Trump, who nominated Paul Atkins to replace him. 

“Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations,” Trump said. “He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”

Throughout Gensler’s tenure, he came under repeated scrutiny from Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes, who accused him of politicizing the SEC to slow-walk the company’s merger with Digital World, which ultimately went through after lengthy delays. That merger permitted the company to appear on the stock exchange and resulted in Trump making billions.

Dems fail to give NRLB director another four years

Though not a voluntary departure, Democrats lost another key official they had hoped to keep in place during Trump’s second term this week when independent Sens. Joe Manchin, W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, Ariz., joined with Republicans to tank Lauren McFerran’s renomination to the National Labor Relations Board. The vote ended her tenure and cost Democrats their majority on the panel.

The panel is a key intermediary between unions and the firms that employee their members. Republicans will accordingly have an opportunity to confirm two members to the panel and claim the majority on the board.

The narrow, 49-50 vote saw Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, fly from Mar-a-Lago to vote, The Hill reported.