FBI Firings, Jan. 6 Agent Probe Sharpen Trump DOJ Reshaping
(Bloomberg) -- The Justice Department has moved to fire a swath of senior FBI leaders and began a massive probe into agents who helped investigate the 2021 Capitol riot, beginning to reshape the US’s preeminent law enforcement agency under President Donald Trump.
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Senior FBI officials based in Washington who oversee agency branches and top agents leading field offices across the country were leaving their jobs, according to people familiar with the moves. Some leaders were pressured to leave the agency, with some choosing to retire, while others resisted and faced being fired, according to some of the people.
Among the departures are a senior official in Miami and one in Washington, offices that were part of the investigations into President Donald Trump’s conduct following his 2020 election loss, said some of the people, who asked not to be named discussing internal matters.
After news of firings and retirements dribbled out for hours in press reports on Friday, Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll addressed the tumult in an email to all FBI employees. He told the agency’s rank-and-file that earlier in the day the acting deputy attorney general had told him eight senior FBI executives were to be fired by specific dates if they didn’t retire first, according to a copy of the message seen by Bloomberg News.
Driscoll added that the FBI was told to turn over by Tuesday a list of all current and former FBI staff who worked on investigations or prosecutions related to the Capitol riot. Driscoll said the request covered thousands of FBI employees around the country, including him.
“We 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,” he wrote, adding that he’ll follow up when he has more information.
The FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment.
FBI leaders also told staff on Friday that some agents will be reassigned to assist in Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations to arrest and deport people in the country illegally, said one of the people familiar with the conversations. They were told the focus would be on criminals.
Reshape DOJ
The Trump administration has been rapidly moving to reshape the Justice Department, which includes the FBI, since the president’s returned to the White House. Acting Attorney General James McHenry notified dozens of FBI officials this week that they did not have the administration’s confidence to carry out the president’s agenda, according to a person familiar with the communication.
One of the most prominent units of DOJ, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is headquartered in Washington in a building named for former director J. Edgar Hoover. The bureau has more than 50 field offices across the country that investigate cases from cyberattacks and white-collar crime to murder and allegations of sexual misconduct.
As a candidate, Trump blasted the FBI investigations into him and claimed prosecutors had “weaponized” the justice system to go against him. He has threatened to wield the levers of power to go after perceived enemies.
Separately Bloomberg Law reported Friday that the DOJ’s top political appointee directed officials to fire at least dozen prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 Capitol riot cases.
Patel Loyalist
Trump has nominated Kash Patel, a loyalist who has criticized the “deep state,” to lead the bureau. Patel, 44, faced pointed questions from Senate Democrats during a confirmation hearing on Thursday over whether he would maintain the FBI’s independence from the White House.
Patel testified that all FBI employees will be protected from political retribution and no one will be terminated because of the specific cases they worked on. “There should be no politics in the FBI,” Patel said during the hearing, claiming that he had experienced the consequences first hand.
“The situation at the FBI is surreal and sickening,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, “reported mass firings a day after Trump’s FBI Director nominee said there would be no political firings.”
The FBI Agents Association warned of the possibility of broad firings in a statement. “Dismissing potentially hundreds of agents would severely weaken the Bureau’s ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats,” said the group, which represents active and retired agents.
The association also sent its members a separate memo, which was viewed by Bloomberg, offering legal and other support to officers and their families. The group said it “has and will use all of its resources to include our legal team and internal and external advocacy to support our membership and the FBI as a whole.”
Smith Investigations
Two of the most prominent leaders leaving the agency are Jeffrey Veltri, special agent in charge in Miami and David Sundberg, the assistant director in charge of the Washington field office, some of the people said.
Sundberg’s office was involved in the sprawling investigation by former special counsel Jack Smith into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 riots. His departure was first reported by NBC News. Sundberg declined to comment.
Veltri’s office had some involvement in the bureau’s search of Mar-a-Lago for Smith’s classified document probe, one of the people said. Veltri declined to comment when asked by phone on Friday if he’d stepped down.
--With assistance from Jamie Tarabay.
(Updates with FBI director testimony in 14th paragraph. An earlier version corrected the spelling of a departing FBI official’s name.)
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