The FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are being sued by nine current agents who say their review of those who worked on the cases of some 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants is a preparation to retaliate against agents.
The suit comes after a noon deadline for the FBI to turn over to the Department of Justice the responses to a 13-question survey about agents’ work on the cases brought against those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The purpose for this list is to identify agents to be terminated or to suffer other adverse employment action,” the suit says, calling it an “unlawful and retaliatory” action.
“Plaintiffs reasonably fear that all or parts of this list might be published by allies of President Trump, thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution by the now pardoned and at-large Jan. 6 convicted felons.”
FBI leadership also has been asked to turn over a list of its agents who worked on cases involving the 1,500 Jan. 6 cases — putting at risk some 2,400 agents who worked on the largest prosecutorial undertaking in DOJ history.
And agents themselves have been asked to define the scope of their work, responding to a survey now included in court documents asking them whether they conducted surveillance, collected evidence, arrested individuals or testified in court.
The class action suit is brought on behalf of nine anonymous agents, and it also asks for an injunction to block any sharing of the survey results.
The FBI declined to comment on the suit. The DOJ did not respond to request for comment.
The push to gain insight on rank-and-file agents’ work on the cases comes after the Trump administration fired the top five career staffers holding leadership positions at the agency and also dismissed the heads of various field offices.
And at the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C., multiple outlets reported that approximately two dozen prosecutors who worked on some of the 1,500 Jan. 6 cases were fired.
The acting FBI director, a career agent who is also the head of the agency’s Newark, N.J., field office, expressed alarm over the request from the DOJ to turn over names of agents who worked on the case.
“We understand that this request encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts,” FBI acting Director Brian Driscoll wrote in an email to staff last week obtained by The Hill.
“I am one of those employees, as is acting Deputy Director [Robert] Kissane. As we’ve said since the moment we agreed to take on these roles, 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.”
Updated at 2:02 p.m. EST
