FBI purges top officials, agents who worked on Trump’s criminal cases
The Trump administration forced out a number of FBI officials Friday, removing agents who worked on the criminal cases into President Trump as well as the heads of various field offices.
A source familiar said agents who had worked on the Mar-a-Lago and Jan. 6 investigations were escorted out of the Washington Field Office.
The same source said officials in charge of the Washington, D.C., Miami, Seattle, New Orleans and Las Vegas field offices were removed.
The full scope of the removals remains unclear but has sparked concerns from members of Congress.
A statement from Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, indicated the move may have impacted “dozens” of agents.
“It is deeply alarming that the Trump administration appears to be purging dozens of the most experienced agents who are our nation’s first line of defense,” he said.
The Hill reported earlier Friday that the five executive assistant directors of the bureau were notified they would be demoted. That move targeted the band of top officials who oversee the FBI’s five internal branches and are among the highest-ranking career positions in the bureau.
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“All Americans who support law enforcement and the rule of law should be deeply concerned by reports that Donald Trump is seeking to fire large numbers of FBI agents, ranging from senior officials to agents assigned to cases against him,” said Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
“These actions would undermine our ability to protect Americans from national security and criminal threats, and — just as damaging — they would undermine the independence of our justice system. Pam Bondi and Kash Patel both committed to protecting the Department of Justice and the FBI from politics and weaponization. If these reports are true, it’s clear they misled the Senate.”
The slew of removals comes the day after Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, was specifically asked about potential removals of agents that worked on Trump’s cases, saying he knew nothing of the plans but would respect processes for removing federal employees.
“I don’t know what’s going on right now over there, but I’m committed to you, Senator, and your colleagues, that I will honor the internal review process of the FBI,” Patel said.
The FBI Agents Association blasted reports that those who worked on Trump’s criminal cases were being removed.
“If true, these outrageous actions by acting officials are fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by President Trump and his support for FBI Agents,” the group said in a statement.
“These actions also contradict the commitments that Attorney General-nominee Pam Bondi and Director-nominee Kash Patel made during their nomination hearings before the United States Senate. They also run counter to the commitment that Director-nominee Patel made to the FBI Agents Association, where during our meeting he said that Agents would be afforded appropriate process and review and not face retribution based solely on the cases to which they were assigned.”
The removals follow a similar playbook at the Justice Department where all prosecutors who worked on Trump’s two criminal investigations were also fired.
The attorneys were told specifically that they were removed due to their work on the case, blaming the Biden administration for a “systemic campaign against its perceived political opponents.”
“Nowhere was that effort more salient than in the unprecedented prosecutions the Department of Justice pursued against President Trump himself,” acting Attorney General James McHenry wrote, adding “I do not believe that the leadership of the Department can trust you to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) described the FBI firing as an unprecedented purge.
“These unprecedented purges of hundreds of prosecutors, staff and experienced law enforcement agents will undermine the government’s power to protect our country against national security, cyber, and criminal threats,” he said in a statement.
“The loyal friend of autocrats, kleptocrats, oligarchs and broligarchs, Trump doesn’t care about the requirements of democracy, national security and public safety,” Raskin continued. “His agenda is vengeance and retribution. If allowed to proceed, Trump’s purge of our federal law enforcement workforce will expose America to authoritarianism and dictatorship.”