Senior FBI Agents Allege White House-led Political Purge of Bureau in New Lawsuit
A trio of former senior FBI agents argued in a new lawsuit Wednesday that they were illegally dismissed as part of a political purge of the bureau directed by the White House.
The three top agents alleged that their dismissals, carried out by FBI Director Kash Patel, violated their Fifth Amendment rights to due process and their First Amendment rights to free association and speech.
For the first time, the lawsuit provides first-hand accounts of the early days of the Trump administration’s efforts to assert control over the FBI and purge the bureau of agents and personnel who worked on criminal investigations into Trump.
Through the lawsuit, Brian Driscoll, former acting FBI director; Steven Jensen, former assistant director of the bureau’s Washington field office; and Spencer Evans, who once led the Las Vegas field office, are seeking reinstatement to their jobs with back pay.
Wednesday’s lawsuit marks the second time the bureau has been sued by agents over actions related to the Trump probes.
The lawsuit alleges that Patel carried out the White House’s purge of the FBI while knowing that such dismissals would be illegal.
In a conversation with Driscoll, the lawsuit alleges, Patel stated that the White House “had directed him to fire anyone who they identified as having worked on a criminal investigation against President Donald J. Trump.”
“Patel explained that he had to fire the people his superiors told him to fire, because his ability to keep his own job depended on the removal of the agents who worked on cases involving the President,” the lawsuit reads.
“Patel chose to prioritize politicizing the FBI over protecting the American people,” the agents alleged.
The FBI director’s alleged statements to Driscoll appeared to contradict the sworn testimony he gave during his confirmation hearings earlier this year. Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patel claimed that “all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.”
The lawsuit also alleged that before inauguration day, members of Trump’s White House transition team began conducting “vetting” interviews with FBI officials, including Driscoll, that included highly political questions.
Driscoll said during an interview for “a high-level position at the FBI” that he was asked whether he voted for a Democrat in the past five elections and when he started “supporting President Trump.”
Driscoll was later informed by Emil Bove, one of Trump’s criminal defense lawyers at the time, that he had “failed” the vetting interview by not being “based out” enough, which Driscoll interpreted as meaning he wasn’t sufficiently loyal to Trump’s political agenda.
Bove, after a controversial tenure as a senior official in the deputy attorney general’s office, has since assumed a lifetime federal judgeship on the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The three agents have a combined 60 years of experience at the FBI and have handled high-profile investigations.
Driscoll received the FBI Medal of Valor and FBI Shield of Bravery for his service, while Evans oversaw an investigation into the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas in January.
In addition to the due process and free speech arguments, Driscoll and Jensen are also claiming that their dismissals were invalid because, as key officials in the FBI, they could only be fired by the deputy attorney general.