The Trump administration plans to scrutinise thousands of FBI agents involved in January 6 investigations, setting the stage for a possible purge that goes far beyond the bureau’s leaders to target rank-and-file agents, according to internal documents and people familiar with the matter. The proposal came on a day that more than a dozen prosecutors at the US attorney’s office in Washington who had worked on cases involving the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot were told that they were being terminated. The moves were a powerful indication that President Donald Trump has few qualms deploying the colossal might of federal law enforcement to punish perceived political enemies, even as his Cabinet nominees offered sober assurances they would abide by the rule of law. Forcing out both agents and prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases would amount to a wide-scale assault on the Justice Department.
On Friday, interim leaders at the department instructed the FBI to notify more than a half-dozen high-ranking career officials that they faced termination, according to a copy of an internal memo obtained by The New York Times. The acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, also instructed the acting leadership of the FBI to compile a list of all agents and FBI staff “assigned at any time to investigations and/or prosecutions” relating to the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 — the day a mob of Trump supporters stormed through the halls of Congress. In issuing his directive, Bove, who has overseen an opening volley of threats, firings and forced transfers since the inauguration, cited Trump’s executive order vowing to end “the weaponisation of the federal government.” Under President Joe Biden, the government waged a “systematic campaign against its perceived political opponents,” including by deploying law enforcement to pursue its rivals, he said.
The office of the deputy attorney general “will commence a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary” against those FBI agents, analysts, and staff, according to the memo, which was addressed to Brian Driscoll, the acting FBI director. In an email to FBI employees on Friday night, Driscoll noted that he was among the agents who would be on such a list. The FBI has been told to submit the list of names by Tuesday.
“We understand that this request encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts,” Driscoll wrote, adding that he and his deputy “are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do what’s in the best interest of the workforce and the American people — always.” Later, the FBI’s counterterrorism division sent an email to field offices around the country with instructions about filling a database with bureau personnel who worked on the cases — a number likely to be about 6,000.
People familiar with the internal discussions said that some Trump administration officials are moving to force scores, or possibly hundreds, of agents out of the FBI in the coming days and weeks. Officials have discussed notifying a large number of agents that they face possible termination, demotion, or transfer. At the US attorney’s office in Washington, more than a dozen prosecutors who had worked on January 6-related cases were told that they were being terminated, according to people familiar with the notices. Those informed of their dismissals had been hired as the office struggled to manage what became the largest prosecution in the department’s history.
In a statement, the FBI Agents Association said that if true, “these outrageous actions by acting officials are fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by President Trump.” “Dismissing potentially hundreds of agents would severely weaken the bureau’s ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats,” the statement continued. If the administration follows through, it would be a singular moment in the FBI’s history, and fly in the face of decades worth of civil service laws that are meant to protect the integrity and professionalism of the government workforce.
FBI officials were already bracing for swift changes, but the forced retirements and the dismissal of senior agents in the field and at headquarters this week has led to immense unease. Agents are worried they will be fired for investigations that angered Trump — especially those who worked on squads at the Washington field office on the criminal inquiry into Trump’s handling of classified documents as well as the inquiry into a fake electors’ scheme.
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