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FBI agents who worked on cases surrounding the January 6 attack and investigations into Donald Trump are suing the Department of Justice to block the administration from “unlawful” and “retaliatory” purges as the president and his allies launch a campaign of “retribution” against government agencies.
A class action lawsuit brought by nine anonymous agents in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday includes a copy of a three-page survey that Justice Department leadership is using to identify agents who worked on cases involving the president and the prosecution of hundreds of people in connection with the Capitol assault.
Another group of agents in a separate lawsuit are seeking a court’s protection from the “anticipated retaliatory decision to expose their personal information” and for the “potential vigilante action by those who they were investigating.”
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Agents fear that Justice Department leadership, under Trump’s instruction, will use the list to “identify agents and other FBI personnel to be terminated as a form of politically motivated retribution,” according to the first complaint.
“Plaintiffs assert that the very act of compiling lists of persons who worked on matters that upset Donald Trump is retaliatory in nature, intended to intimidate FBI agents and other personnel and to discourage them from reporting any future malfeasance and by Donald Trump and his agents,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also notes that Elon Musk and his allies are working to “access government databases that house personal information, without regard to security protocols, and without a legitimate business purpose,” and that their personal information has been published on the “dark web” by convicted rioters.
“Plaintiffs legitimately fear that the information being compiled will be accessed by persons who are not authorized to have access to it, and who lack the requisite security clearances to handle such information,” according to the lawsuit. “Plaintiffs further assert that even if they are not targeted for termination, they may face other retaliatory acts such as demotion, denial of job opportunities or denial of promotions in the future.”
A redacted copy of the questionnaire was attached in court documents, showing that agents were asked to identify their specific roles in the investigations stemming from Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
The publication of those surveys could place them in “immediate risk of serious harm,” according to the agents, who are asking a judge to block the dissemination or publication of the surveys.
The agents claim violations of their First Amendment rights and a breach of federal privacy laws that prohibit the Justice Department from disseminating the identities of FBI personnel.
A second lawsuit — filed by a separate group of seven FBI agents represented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association and nonpartisan watchdog group State Democracy Defenders Fund — seeks a temporary restraining order to block the release of names of any FBI personnel targeted by Trump’s administration.
“The individuals being targeted have served in law enforcement for decades, often putting their lives on the line for the citizens of this country,” according to a statement from Norm Eisen, executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund, which filed the complaint on the agents’ behalf. “Their rights and privacy must be preserved.”
Chris Mattei, an attorney for FBI agents seeking an injunction to block the release of their names, called the Justice Department’s reported plans “an appalling attack on non-partisan public servants who have dedicated their lives to protecting our communities and our nation.”
“It is clear that the threatened disclosure is a prelude to an unlawful purge of the FBI solely driven by the Trump Administration’s vengeful and political motivations,” Mattei said in a statement shared with The Independent. “Releasing the names of these agents would ignite a firestorm of harassment towards them and their families and it must be stopped immediately.”
The Independent has requested comment from the Justice Department and White House.
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Trump swiftly issued pardons and commuted the sentences for virtually every convicted rioter as one of his first official actions in the Oval Office on January 20, while Ed Martin — the acting U.S. attorney in Washington — is moving to dismiss the remaining cases against people accused of joining a Trump-fueled mob on January 6, 2021.
Now-former special counsel Jack Smith effectively dismissed the two sprawling federal cases against the president, and he resigned before Trump returned to office.
Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, spent his Senate confirmation hearing last week trying to evade his record of conspiracy theories and support for January 6 rioters, including his fundraising for defendants accused of attacking law enforcement, after he spent years threatening to prosecute a so-called “deep state” and members of the press, among other perceived enemies of the Trump administration.
Democratic members of Congress and state attorneys general are now demanding that Patel testify to the “unprecedented attack” against federal law enforcement agents in the wake of Trump’s presidency.
“Shortly after his confirmation hearing, we learned that more than a dozen high-ranking FBI officials were fired and that the FBI is developing a list of all agents and staff who worked investigations and prosecutions related to the January 6th Capitol insurrection,” the attorneys general wrote Tuesday. “Mr. Patel must answer questions about this unprecedented attack on the FBI before Senators vote on his confirmation.”
