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FBI Director Kash Patel doubled down on statements that FBI agents will receive pay following previous remarks in the Oval Office.
“FBI special agents will keep getting paid, because we prioritize the people who protect this country,” Patel wrote in a statement on X on Thursday.
“President Trump made sure our men and women in law enforcement and the military won’t miss a paycheck during the shutdown. America’s security doesn’t stop. Neither do we,” he added.
His post included a screenshot of a CBS article that referenced his Wednesday remarks to President Trump.
The FBI director told Trump the agency has a “great debt that we owe you” for ensuring that agents receive pay amid federal shuttering.
Patel did not specify the source of funding but did highlight pay for agents despite the fact that none were placed on furlough amid the shutdown, according to the Justice Department’s shutdown guidance.
The president has also suggested he will still pay service members without congressional approval, as the Trump administration has proposed using previously appropriated funds to provide paychecks to members of the military.
“We got the people that we want paid, paid,” Trump told CBS.
“We want the FBI paid and we want the military paid,” he added.
Trump’s remarks come in stark contrast to his sentiments toward furloughed federal workers.
White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought issued a memo earlier this month alleging that furloughed workers were not guaranteed back pay despite a law mandating checks for federal employees in the wake of a government shutdown.
“If the shutdown continues, the Bureau will be forced to curtail travel, training, hiring, and other vital operations, slowing investigations and weakening coordination with law enforcement partners,” the FBI Agents Association said in a statement to CBS, urging elected officials to quickly resolve the federal funding lapse.
The group did thank Trump for ensuring agents were paid. However, Democrats have accused the president of grandstanding with promises to pay certain federal workers and not others.
“I think to pay the military during a shutdown would require legislation; the Speaker of the House has taken that off the table,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
“So, I mean, is Donald Trump going to say a bunch of stuff? Yes, he’s going to say a bunch of stuff. But I don’t see anything moving,” he added.
