FBI agents filed a class-action lawsuit against the Justice Department Tuesday, saying they are being singled out by higher-ups for punishment over their investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and classified documents cases against President Trump.
Nine FBI agents allege acting Attorney General James McHenry and other DOJ officials are retaliating against them by distributing surveys asking about their involvement in the former probes of the president in order for the agents “to be terminated or to suffer other adverse employment action.”
The lawsuit, which calls the effort “politically motivated retribution,” came on the same day the Trump administration had set as a deadline for the Justice Department to identify FBI agents involved in both cases.
As part of their filing in DC federal court, the bureau employees also submitted screenshots of the survey querying each agent’s investigative duties and title while working on what became special counsel Jack Smith’s since-dismissed indictments of the 45th president.
Smith resigned Jan. 10 after dropping the cases — and more than a dozen prosecutors who participated were fired after Trump assumed office last month.
The agents asserted 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.”
“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,” the filing also notes.
Some agents have already found their personal info circling on the so-called “dark web,” according to the lawsuit.
Trump, 78, pardoned roughly 1,500 Americans convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the US Capitol that halted the certification of the 2020 election.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who initiated the compiling of the lists, also asked for US attorneys in each state to designate prosecutors who worked on the same investigations.
In a separate Tuesday filing in DC federal court, the FBI’s union and other anonymous bureau employees asked for a temporary restraining order against the DOJ before it releases any names of roughly 6,000 agents or workers who investigated the Capitol riot.
“FBI Special Agents who risk their lives protecting the country from criminals and terrorists are now being placed on lists and having their careers jeopardized simply for doing their jobs,” said FBIAA President Natalie Bara in a statement.
“Exposing the names of FBI Agents and employees on these lists would put the safety of these individuals and their families at risk. Further, this reckless action would create a chilling effect within the law enforcement community and weaken the Bureau’s ability to combat criminal and national security threats.”
Publication of the details of any of the agents’ involvement in the probes would violate their First Amendment rights and the Privacy Act of 1974, as well as due process, both lawsuits alleged.
The FBI Agents Association noted that both Attorney General-designate Pam Bondi and FBI Director-designate Kash Patel had already given commitments that agents’ due process rights would not be violated — and that there would be no retribution for them having lawfully investigated Jan. 6.
Reps for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
