Federal Government Agrees Not to Release List of FBI Agents Involved in Trump Cases

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said that the federal government will not release the names of FBI agents who worked on President Donald Trump-related cases in an agreement reached Friday.
In two lawsuits filed Tuesday, FBI employees asked a federal district court in Washington, D.C. to block the DOJ — and the federal government as a whole — from compiling a list of agents who worked on Jan. 6 and Trump’s classified documents cases and distributing it to the public.
One of the cases is a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of at least 6,000 FBI employees and the other was brought by the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA), and they were heard in the same hearing that began Thursday.
Early Friday afternoon, District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb approved an agreement between the plaintiffs and the DOJ, stating the government “will not disseminate the list at issue in these consolidated cases…to the public, directly or indirectly, before the Court rules on Plaintiffs’ anticipated motions for a preliminary injunction.”
This type of injunction would prevent the government from releasing this list while litigation continues in these cases, which could be a lengthy process.
However, the government can withdraw from the agreement anytime if there’s no ruling yet but has to provide two business days’ notice to the plaintiffs and the court of its intent to terminate it.
The plaintiffs have until Feb. 24 to file their motions, and the DOJ has until March 14 to file their opposition to them.
Feb. 4:
FBI Agents Sue to Stop DOJ from Creating List of Staff Involved in Trump Cases
FBI agents and employees filed two lawsuits Tuesday to block the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) from collecting and distributing a list of those who worked on President Donald Trump-related cases. These include investigations into criminal activity Jan. 6, 2021 and Trump’s classified documents case at Mar-a-Lago.
The nine anonymous agents who filed a class action lawsuit said they represent at least 6,000 current and former FBI employees “who participated in some manner in the investigation and prosecution of crimes and abuses of power by Donald Trump, or by those acting at his behest.”
Over the last several years since the insurrection, Special Counsel Jack Smith secured a grand jury indictment of Trump in 2023 and over 1,500 people who were involved in the Jan. 6 attack have been successfully prosecuted — and now pardoned, the plaintiffs explained.
The plaintiffs said that less than two weeks after Trump was inaugurated Jan. 20, the DOJ fired all of the attorneys who prosecuted Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago cases “precisely because of the Trump administration’s perception of those attorneys’ political loyalties,” and they learned a similar action could be taken for FBI agents.
Earlier this week, some FBI employees were told to fill out a survey reporting their work on the Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago cases or were told their managers would be collecting that information to give to Trump administration officials. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they were told “they are likely to be terminated in the very near future…for such activity.”
The FBI employees claimed in the lawsuit that these actions are illegal and will cause them severe harm for many reasons. First, the plaintiffs explained that there’s no “legitimate agency purpose for this list to be created or to exist.”
They argued that the creation and dissemination of the list violates their rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as government employees to protection from discrimination based on their political affiliations or perceptions of their beliefs.
The plaintiffs argued the Trump administration “clearly believes that persons who were involved in the investigation and prosecution of Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago cases are insufficiently politically affiliated with Donald Trump to be entitled to retain their employment.”
The FBI agents also alleged the DOJ violated their rights under the 5th Amendment of the Constitution to privacy, due process and protection against reputational harm from government actors, as well as violating the Privacy Act
They argued the Trump administration has already damaged their reputations “by publicly stating and implying that their work on Jan. 6 and/or Mar-a-Lago cases was somehow wrongful, dishonest, politically motivated or improper.”
Also, they outlined the harms they would face if the list were to be released. The plaintiffs said some of their personal information has already been posted by “Jan. 6 convicted felons” on the “dark web” and are concerned about more information being released. Also, they explained “it has been widely reported” that Elon Musk has improperly accessed government databases housing personal information.
They repeatedly emphasized the risk of “serious personal harm” to themselves and their loved ones and damage to their reputation and future job prospects if this list were to “fall into the wrong hands.”
They took this argument one step further, claiming that if this list falls into the wrong hands, the “national security of the United States would be severely compromised.”
The plaintiffs urged a federal district court in Washington, D.C. to block “the aggregation, storage, reporting, publication or dissemination” of this list of FBI agents. They specifically asked the judge for a jury trial.
The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA), along with several FBI employees, filed a similar lawsuit Tuesday, but instead of just suing the DOJ, they listed the United States as a defendant.
Also, they said the DOJ violated the Administrative Procedure Act because as a government agency, the Justice Department infringed on the plaintiffs’ rights as well as violating “well-established procedures for the safeguarding of personally identifiable information.”
In this lawsuit, the FBIAA asked the court to stop the U.S. government from “any further collection or dissemination of personally identifiable information of [the] Plaintiffs and other similarly situated persons.”