Purges at FBI, DOJ trigger 'battle' for career staff

The Trump administration has removed dozens of Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI officials and is eyeing firing perhaps thousands more in an unprecedented purge that may just be getting started.

Trump critics feared he would use the two agencies to carry out retribution against his perceived political enemies.

Some of the first actions from the new leadership at the FBI and DOJ have targeted those who worked on President Trump’s two criminal prosecutions as well as agents and lawyers involved in charging the 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants, who have since been pardoned by the president.

James Dennehy, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said the agency was in a battle of its own.

“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy,” he said in an email reported by The New York Times.

The Trump administration on Friday forced out the five highest career positions at the FBI along with the heads of numerous field offices, including the leader in Washington, D.C.

Agents who worked on Trump’s two criminal cases were also escorted out of the building.

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 week prior, the Justice Department fired more than a dozen prosecutors who previously worked on Trump’s Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago cases, specifically citing their work on those cases. Other top career prosecutors have also recently been reassigned and demoted.

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.

“We understand that this request encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts,” FBI acting Director Brian Driscoll, also the head of the FBI's Newark field office, wrote in an email to staff 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.”

Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney under President Obama, noted that none of the officials were political appointees, calling the targeting of career law enforcement “what a banana republic dictator does.”

“What we're talking about now is career employees, and they can only be removed — whether they're FBI agents or prosecutors — for failures in performance and conduct that are documented over a period of time with a very rigid set of protections. None of that was followed,” she said during an appearance on MSNBC.

“It is a dangerous moment, this purge that we're watching happen.”

The FBI is facing a possible suit over the swift firings, with attorneys arguing the agency violated the law in how it carried out the dismissals.

“The public servants the Department is seeking to remove properly fulfilled their oath to uphold and defend the rule of law. As with any civil servant, FBI employees are afforded statutory and constitutional rights. Therefore, any adverse employment action, including removal, must respect all required standard procedural and substantive due process protections,” attorneys wrote in a letter to Emil Bove, a former Trump defense attorney who is now the DOJ’s acting deputy attorney general.

“If you proceed with terminations and/or public exposure of terminated employees’ identities, we stand ready to vindicate their rights through all available legal means. Of all people and entities, the Department of Justice and the FBI have a sacred obligation to keep the American people safe,” they added, noting that Bove himself has “personally taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and you have ethical responsibilities as a Department employee and a member of the bar.”

The purge does not appear to be over.

The FBI sent a 12-item questionnaire to those who worked on the cases of the more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants looking to assess more about their work.

According to Politico, the survey includes drop-down menus to ascertain whether agents conducted surveillance, discovery efforts, grand jury proceedings, testified in trials or handled arrests.

Agents had until 3 p.m. Monday to complete the questionnaire, while Driscoll said he was expected to provide a breakdown of staff working on the Jan. 6 cases by noon Tuesday.

“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,” Bove wrote to Driscoll, according to the letter.

Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, said in a Thursday hearing ahead of the dismissals that he was unaware of the plans to fire agents — but he nodded to the proper process in saying that agents should be fired using the “internal review process.”

Trump praised Patel on Monday while sidestepping questions about the firings.

“We have to have pristine, beautiful, perfect law enforcement. And what we want to do — Kash is the one to do it. He’s the one guy that’s going to do it,” Trump told reporters. “Kash will straighten it out. We have great confidence that we can make the FBI great again.”

The FBI Agents Association appealed to members of Congress, saying agents must be able to do their jobs “free from fear of retaliation.”

“Put simply, Special Agents who risk their lives protecting this country from criminals and terrorists are now being placed on lists and having their careers jeopardized for carrying out the orders they were given by their superiors in the FBI. These actions, which lack transparency and due process, are creating dangerous distractions, imperiling ongoing investigations, and undermining the Bureau’s ability to work with state, local, and international partners to make America safe again,” the organization wrote.

They called the actions “wholly inconsistent” with the pledges made by Trump and Patel to “guide the Bureau in a non-political manner.”

Democrats over the weekend condemned the mass firings.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Friday called the series of removals “a brazen assault on the rule of law.”

And in a Monday letter he asked Patel, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, Driscoll and the top acting DOJ official to turn over any communications with Trump transition officials about plans to fire career officials.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said that the moves came as the agencies were “rudderless” with many top career officials removed or resigned.

Some Republicans also attacked the move, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a regular Trump critic, noting the lengthy timeline for training new agents.

“Understand how long it takes to get a new FBI agent on board. If you fire hundreds — if not thousands, and it would be thousands on this list of FBI agents — it takes 12-18 months to get them on board,” he said during an interview on ABC News’s “This Week.”

“In the threat assessment we have right now across the world, to lose that many agents, and then take a year to a year and a half to try to replace them, is incredibly dangerous for our national security,” Christie continued. “And for what? Because they did their jobs.”

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