The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, told his top agents from around the country that he had been asked by President Trump to stay on the job running the federal government's top law enforcement agency, The New York Times reports, according to people familiar with the matter.

The political fallout from this decision will make the news cycle buzz today, since Hillary Clinton, the mainstream media, and many Democrats blame Mr. Comey for her defeat, and it is not clear whether she would have kept him on had she won.

but a decision to retain Mr. Comey would spare the president another potentially bruising confirmation battle. As The New York Times adds, it also would keep Mr. Comey at the center of the F.B.I.'s investigation into several Trump associates and their potential ties with the Russian government.