FBI Is Not Moving To PG County, Will Stay In DC: Report

WASHINGTON, DC -- After a vigorous competition between two locations in Prince George's County and one in Virginia for a sprawling new FBI headquarters, it looks like the agency will be staying put in D.C., according to a report.

The Washington Post reports that the General Services Administration and the FBI are recommending that the bureau's headquarters remain at its current location at the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, although the idea would be to replace that building with a new one.

That means the 11,000 staff currently in D.C. will stay put rather than move out to PG County, and about 2,300 headquarters staff will be shuffled around to locations across the country.

Back in July, the GSA and the FBI decided to cancel a funding searching for a new headquarters, with the GSA saying it hadn't received enough in the 2017 budget to cover the move -- just $523 million out of $1.4 billion requested.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) reacted with dismay at the decision, tweeting late Monday afternoon that the "new report that the Trump Admin is seeking to keep the @FBI HQ in downtown DC is extremely alarming," he wrote. "Congress must reject this reckless proposal and look into why the Administration would make such a careless decision."

It's no secret that President Trump holds a strong dislike for the FBI as the bureau investigates possible Russian collusion during the 2016 election -- an investigation that has led to several indictments within his inner circle. Whether that factored into the decision to keep the FBI in the cramped, deteriorating J. Edgar Hoover Building is anyone's guess, however.

Image via FBI