The Purge: FBI Edition
The administration is compiling a list of every single agent who participated in the January 6 investigations.
Shane Harris, The Atlantic (“FBI Agents Are Stunned by the Scale of the Expected Trump Purge“):
[Friday] afternoon, FBI personnel braced for a retaliatory purge of the nation’s premiere law-enforcement agency, as President Donald Trump appeared ready to fire potentially hundreds of agents and officials who’d participated in investigations that led to criminal charges against him.
A team that investigated Trump’s mishandling of classified documents was expected to be fired, four people familiar with the matter said. Trump has long fumed about that investigation, which involved a raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate that turned up hundreds of classified documents he had taken after he left the White House four years ago.
David Sundberg, the head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, is also being fired, these people added. Sundberg is a career FBI agent with more than two decades of experience, and he oversees some of the bureau’s most sensitive cases related to national security and counterintelligence. Current and former officials told me they are worried that those investigations could stall, at least temporarily, if a large number of agents are suddenly removed. A spokesperson at the Washington Field Office declined to comment.
Trump’s retribution is not limited to those who investigated him personally. Administration officials are reviewing records to identify FBI personnel who participated in investigations of the January 6 assault on the Capitol by his supporters, people familiar with the matter told me. That could potentially involve hundreds if not thousands of agents, including those who interviewed and investigated rioters who were later prosecuted. Shortly after taking office, Trump pardoned about 1,500 of the rioters and commuted others’ sentences.
There is no precedent for the mass termination of FBI personnel in this fashion. Current and former officials I spoke with had expected Trump to exact retribution for what he sees as unjust and even illegal efforts by the FBI and the Justice Department to investigate his conduct. But they were stunned by the scale of Trump’s anticipated purge, which is taking aim at senior leaders as well as working-level agents who do not set policy but follow the orders of their superiors.
This afternoon, some FBI personnel frantically traded messages and rumors about others believed to be on Trump’s list, including special agents who run field offices across the country and were also involved in investigations of the former president.
Trump’s efforts to root out his supposed enemies might not withstand a legal challenge. FBI agents do not choose the cases assigned to them, and they are protected by civil-service rules. The FBI Agents Association, a nonprofit organization that is not part of the U.S. government, said in a statement that the reports of Trump’s planned purge are “outrageous” and “fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by President Trump and his support for FBI Agents.”
The mass firings could imperil the nomination of Kash Patel, whom Trump wants to run the FBI in his administration. Just yesterday, Patel had assured senators during his confirmation hearing that the very kinds of politically motivated firings that appear to be in motion would not happen.
“All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution,” Patel told lawmakers. “Every FBI employee will be held to the absolute same standard, and no one will be terminated for case assignments.”
Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee to run the Justice Department, had likewise assured senators during her own hearing that government personnel would not be subject to political retaliation for doing their job.
Evan Perez, Josh Campbell, and Hannah Rabinowitz for CNN (“Trump DOJ demands list of thousands of FBI agents, others who worked on Jan. 6 and Trump investigations for possible firing“) add:
The Trump administration is set to expand a purge of career law enforcement officials, demanding the names of those who worked on January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack and Trump-related investigations for potential removal – a move that could affect thousands.
Leaders of the FBI were instructed Friday to provide the Justice Department by Tuesday information about all current and former bureau employees who “at any time” worked on January 6 investigations, according to an email from acting FBI director Brian Driscoll and obtained by CNN.
The Justice Department, according to the email, will review those employees to “determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”
“This request,” Driscoll wrote to all bureau personnel, “encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts.” The acting director noted in the email that such a list would also include him, as well as the acting deputy director.
The requested list, which interim DOJ leaders had spent the past week drawing up, highlights how the new administration has moved quickly to deliver on President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back at the Justice Department and FBI that he claims have been weaponized against him. Trump has falsely accused agents of abuse in their court-ordered search of his Mar-a-Lago home and of their treatment of Capitol rioters.
The FBI and Justice Department declined to comment.
Driscoll attached to the email a memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove with the subject line “Termination.”
“For each employee included in the lists, provide the current title, office to which the person is assigned, role in the investigation or prosecution, and date of last activity relating to the investigation or prosecution,” Bove wrote. “Upon timely receipt of the requested information, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General will commence a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”
The Bove memo also referenced the removal of senior FBI officials, which CNN previously reported.
“The FBI — including the Bureau’s prior leadership — actively participated in what President Trump appropriately described as ‘a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated on the American people over the last four years’ with respect to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Bove said.
The Justice Department also requested information on FBI personnel who worked on a criminal case brought in September by the previous administration against several high-level members of Hamas over the October 7, 2023, attack.
Driscoll said in his email that “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.”
Friday’s notices of expected termination sent shockwaves throughout the FBI, line-level agents and analysts told CNN.
“This is a massacre meant to chill our efforts to fight crime without fear or favor,” said one agent. “Even for those not fired, it sends the message that the bureau is no longer independent.”
One employee noted the January 6 case, which involved over a thousand defendants located across the country, was the largest investigation ever worked by the FBI.
“Everyone touched this case,” the employee said.
Even if one thinks that the Biden administration’s investigation of the Capitol riots was politically motivated, firing hundreds, perhaps thousands of federal agents for doing their jobs is, to say the least, problematic. It will almost certainly not survive judicial scrutiny.
Presumably, the plan is to either shutter the FBI completely or fill it with agents loyal to this President. Even aside from the longstanding notion that enforcement of the law should be apolitical—federal agents, like all federal employees, take an oath to the Constitution, not a President or a political party—this would essentially halt any ongoing investigation, period, given the reach of the intended purge. This would include the Bureau’s extensive counterterrorism mission.
Just watch.
The next thing we’ll see is replacement FBI agents issued brown uniforms.
This will go like the criminal cases against Trump. I suppose when this reaches the SCOTUS branch of Koch, Inc. it’s possible they won’t go along with it. But after appeal, after stall, after appeal, and assuming the plaintiffs haven’t gone broke, when it reaches SCOTUS in five or ten years it will be moot. The damage will have been done.
Like the free press, the independent judiciary is a wonderful thing for the Party that owns it.
The FBI is a flawed institution. Recall how they influenced the 2016 election (New York field office). That said, the reduction of the federal police force should prove a boom to organized crime.
@Raoul:
They are a flawed organization, but so is every other. @James notes a critical FBI activity, anti-terrorism. While prez felon maybe pleased that the crimes of his
supporters,RW terror groups can proceed relatively unabated, there is a real risk of strikes by external enemies. And we shouldn’t be sanquin and assume that the CIA/NSA won’t also go through, mmmm, reorganization.It is quite likely we won’t even see the next terror event coming. At least with 9/11 we can be comforted by the fact that the intelligence community recognized the threat, but the Cassandras were ignored.
@Raoul:
Yep. That’s the entire point of doing the purge.
The FBI “doing their job” tried to steal people’s money and they ignored the warrant to do so.
The goal is to politicize every agency root and branch. Which is just dumb if the next election just undoes your clever strategy. Which, if the pursue that agenda, will happen. America is vey prone lately to voting out the party in power if someone promises cheaper eggs and outsider bashing.
The ultimate goal is right-wing Republican hegemony where elections don’t matter. R’s are creating infrastructure mechanisms that could easily be used against them in the future. Like next election cycle future. Their goal is to never be out of power and are damn well set that they are the forever in power party.
I know we shouldn’t throw the term “fascism” around too easily, but this Trump 4 year term will test our institutions. Hard.
They want Putin level power. Are pushing for it now.
Sound like an impeachable offense… Ten years ago and with any Congress pre-2016. Now, I haven’t a clue what a president can do to get kicked out.
@de stijl:
Of course, if the Rs are now the Party of Hollowed Out Federal Government and the Dems are the Party of Governance, it is easier to wreck and hollow out in four years (or even four weeks!) than it is build back up.
@Argon:
Unless the opposition has a majority in the House and 2/3rds of the Senate, not much.
He might succeed in replacing current agents with new ones loyal to Trump. I think it’s more likely he removes senior leadership and the civil service protections work for the rank and file. However, all FBI employees will realize that investigating anything even remotely related to Trump risks losing your job. I would expect Trump and family and friends to do a lot more “business” with foreign investors and governments. I also expect more crypto scandals.
Steve
@Steven L. Taylor:
This is very true. It is easier to be a destroyer than a builder. Building relatively apolitical civil service to be efficient is damned difficult. Knocking down a structure is easy – bash out the structural components and it collapses on itself. The hard bit is hauling all the crap away. Dumping is harder than deconstruction.
Building is hard.
You have to hire the correct skilled contractors in the right order and juggle and account for interdepencies.
Destruction is easy. Comparatively.
Rebuilding is hard.
We have people in power now hell bent on destruction. Fire / eliminate the civil service and replace them with politicized lackeys. Sure! Why not?
Photo of painting over mottos on walls at Quantico:
@steve: Crypto makes “payola” more invisible and more likely.
@Rob1: That’s a picture that’s worth far more than a thousand words.
@Steven L. Taylor:
And the Party of Dreamer Jose Ibarra’s 20 minute Latin Passion. If only E Jean had fought back, Trump would have been a convicted rapist and murderer like Ibarra.
@Paul L:
If this were my blog, I would ban your vile deranged ass over a comment like that.
My first thought at 0500 PST was the line from the Rolling Stones,
Which seems to encapsulate the Trump worldview.
And I thought, nah, not gonna go there as a first comment. It’s early, and Luddite’s a cranky a-hole
But the more I think about this, and especially after @Rob1’s link (thanks!), the cleanest thoughts are simply not clean. Cry the beloved country, indeed.
ETA even during the Nixon reign, I told my teachers that I knew the Republic would fall eventually. Looks like it’s happening in my lifetime.
@drj:
Why is it vile? It just is.
But Trump called all Mexicans rapists when there are none.
I’m watching a high rise building go up in real time. Early stages. Two blocks from me. They are building the foundations. Literally.
For a few months they were flattening and filling the surface and then building the casings for the foundation pillars. Simultaneously using a crane with a huge ass auger while also smashing down a massive cast iron cylinder to prevent backfill. Two cranes working in harmony. One to dig, one to pound. The auger in the cylinder bit was fascinating: imagine you had that crane job!
This month they are pouring concrete into those now empty cylinders. Laying the foundation.
(The huge ass auger had to reverse operations every ten minutes or so to pull back up and dump the earth on its blades off. They did that by banging it on the ground. It was glorious! They had crews to haul that away.)
All that and more. One day, relatively soon, a few years out, there will be a new 40 story high rise building on that empty block that used to an eyesore.
Building is hard.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Well, maybe there should be laws, regulations, and guidelines to protect civil service professionals from partisan political shenanigans.
Trump just EO’d all that away. Day one. The purpose is very clear. Politicization of federal agencies is the interim goal.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I don’t believe it’s what you really mean and it is not that I expect the Republicans to act responsibly. Nevertheless I believe it is inappropriate to suggest that only the opposition has the capacity to do something to remove Trump from office. The complicity of the fully Republican Legislature and SCOTUS must be relentlessly exposed.
McConnell had the means to convict Trump of his second impeachment, but then chose the cowardly path. Per the opinions of prominent Constitutional experts, SCOTUS had the means to disqualify Trump from running for re-election, but then chose the sycophantic path. Let’s not let anyone forget that.
@Steven L. Taylor:
And if it did happen with Trump, we’d end up with JD Vance, Peter Thiel’s Mini-Me.
I’ve always thought Cassius Chaerea was a patriot, and a martyr for the cause of justice in governance.
@Paul L.:
Do you understand how logic works?
@Paul L.:
Wowsers, Paul. It doesn’t matter how hard you wave your hands, you can’t fly like a bird. (Maybe like Wile E. Coyote, but that’s a different matter).
Or are all New Mexicans of “not Caucasian” classification automatically illegals in your mind?
Seriously, dude. That’s just embarrassing.
I like this, the FBI being 100% committed to stopping real criminals and getting out of the dirty tricks game. I guess you could call it unprecedented if you really think about it.
There are. It’s what people are talking about when they are accusing the current administration of eroding civil service laws/protections.
But laws are greatly voluntary, they only work to the extent that society agrees to them. The current administration is an object lesson in the fragility of the so-called rule of law.
@joe:
Donald Trump is rapist who incited a violent attack on Congress, and who said this of his daughter, back when he was paling around with known teen sex trafficker Jeff Epstein:
“Ivanka’s got the best body. I’ve often said that if Ivanka weren’t my daughter I’d be dating her.”
Assault is a crime, as are statutory rape, insurrection, and mass business fraud. If we lived in a country where more people were capable of holding rich men accountable, Trump would be in prison.
That said, this gross and perverted orange felon would not be a thing still if the FBI had not kneecapped Hillary at the finish line in 2016. So. One must be careful not to be eaten by the monster one creates.
This is a terrible idea (of course), makes our nation FAR less safe (duh), and will destroy morale.
All because the President is a thin-skinned narcissist with short, sticky fingers.
@de stijl:
Does a pig?
@DK:
Pigs are highly intelligent. Probably higher IQ than dogs. And dogs are pretty damn smart – smarter than your average human toddler by a mile.
We judge domestication on whether on not we can make an animal pee and poop in a way we find acceptable. If trained, cat’s will eliminate properly (in the manner that suits us), as will dogs. Mostly.
I live in a high rise, and dogs will pee the second they walk outside. It’s completely understandable and I don’t really have a problem with that. I know that I have to step lively the first few steps at the building door. Live and learn. There are worse things to step into than dog urine.
@DK:
Nobody believes that Trump committed a crime or raped a woman in the Twilight Zone. It was will to power fascist lawfare that the electorate correctly saw through.
And the idea that Hillary was kneecapped by the FBI is delusional.
@joe:
He’s alive!
Like Bill Nighy from Underworld. Only way stupider and way less charismatic.
@Scott F.:
Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but you said “I haven’t a clue what a president can do to get kicked out.
I honestly think, apart from something truly off the charts, like human sacrifice live on TV, that there isn’t a whole that a president can do that will lead to their removal unless the opposition party controls 50%+1 of the House and 2/3rds of the Senate. Especially not Trump.
I argued as much here a while back.
Under what circumstances do you see his co-partisans acting to remove him?
@Steven L. Taylor:
Were I a conservative Republican, I’d be utterly ashamed that Donald Trump was actually President. The reality of it must be so shameful.
He isn’t conservative. He isn’t a Republican. He’s just an obnoxious asshole who used you for petty vengence. The walk of shame you guys need should be onerous and super judgey. Why the fuck would you pledge your feasance and loyalty to this jackass who will certainly be judged as the least qualified and able and capable President in our history?
I feel bad for future history students / academics who are going to look back at us and judge us for electing this idiot twice. I’m so sorry that happened! I didn’t vote for him.
@Joe:
Someone in the Bluesky comments pointed out that the word “Constitution” is being painted over in the lower righthand corner.”
We are long past the point of allowing the Republicans to claim being “the Constitution Party.”
@Paul L:
If only you weren’t so deeply implanted into a chauvinistic worldview so as to understand and empathize with the power imbalance/intimidation that women face from men especially when physically assaulted.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Trump‘s co-partisans? There are NO circumstances and I think I said as much with the second half of my first sentence.
Nevertheless, I am not willing to accept that it is typical partisanship to advance into power in order to protect from consequences an adjudicated rapist, convicted fraud, and indicted insurrectionist as a member of your party. What the Republicans are allowing for Trump to be their figurehead, because they need his unique narcissism and shamelessness as their figurehead in order to accomplish their agenda, is beyond the pale. It is abnormal and it is horrifying.
So it may take a human sacrifice to get today’s GOP to turn against Trump, but I don’t think it would’ve taken such a egregious act to get the Republicans of 20 years ago to turn against Bush. Or for that matter to have gotten the Democrats of four years ago to turn against Biden.
You are being realistic. I am being idealistic. Fair enough. But for me, it’s important to every so often state my ideals in order to keep my bearings. We are in crazy times! No part of it is normal structural failure, except to the extent our political structure is being exploited in unprecedented ways.
@Scott F.: Agreed, and it’s very frustrating when people (not referring to Professor Taylor here) don’t even bother to shame or call out Republicans when they say and do lousy things. Yes, they’re very unlikely to ever do the right thing, and yes, we all know that now, but keep hammering them over it. Don’t give them a free pass.
@Kathy:
Well, we could hold out for hope that one of his minions gets tired of his belittling them, snaps, and wrings his wattling neck like a stewing chicken? But nah, Luddite’s trying to be a better person.
@de stijl:
I hate to tell you (seriously, I do): but he has fully captured the Republican Party and is currently reshaping it in his image. They abandoned the chance for it to be otherwise pretty much right after J6.
@de stijl:
I hate to tell you (seriously, I do): but he has fully captured the Republican Party and is currently reshaping it in his image. They abandoned the chance for it to be otherwise pretty much right after J6.
@de stijl:
That’s not how it works. I wasn’t angry at Nixon over Watergate, I was angry at the at the evil people who did the hatchet job on him. There were Republicans that were disillusioned then and Nixon was nowhere near as popular as Trump is, but I would guess more Republicans now are like I was then. Even in 1980, I didn’t vote for Reagan, but I did vote for John Anderson, another Republican and have never voted for a Democrat in a local election (Seattle was an easy place to be conservative back in the SDS days). It didn’t wear off quickly.
And I still won’t identify as a Democrat. They’re not liberal enough to suit me in my dotage.
Just watch.
The next thing we’ll see is replacement FBI agents issued brown uniforms.
And maybe a swastika.