Washington As part of an unprecedented purge of top executives at FBI headquarters and leadership in FBI field offices across the nation, two senior law enforcement sources say that David Sundberg, the assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, was informed Thursday that he would lose his job and is getting ready to leave the bureau.
During Trump’s second term, Sundberg became the highest-ranking field agent to be dismissed from the FBI.
In December 2022, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray appointed Sundberg, who had joined the agency in 2002, to lead the Washington Field Office. It is among the most prestigious roles an agent may hold inside the FBI.
Former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into now-President Donald Trump and the extensive investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol that led to hundreds of people being charged with crimes both significantly included special agents from the Washington Field Office.
The announcement of Sundberg’s departure coincides with a larger wave of dismissals that have affected the bureau’s leadership. Up to eight senior officers at FBI headquarters have been forced to resign or face termination, according to NBC News. A Republican Capitol Hill staffer and an Elon Musk connection have assumed top positions at the bureau’s headquarters, and new faces are also joining the mix.
It is a part of the ongoing drive to restructure the federal workforce, which has recently had a particularly negative impact on the top echelons of the Justice Department.
At the Washington Field Office, Sundberg oversaw around 1,600 staff members and oversaw FBI activities in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., including well-known cases involving public corruption and terrorism, such as the Trump investigations.
In addition to the unsolved investigation into the pipe bombs put near the Republican and Democratic party headquarters buildings on the evening of January 5, 2021, Sundberg inherited the investigation into the Capitol riot on January 6th. In addition, Sundberg oversaw the Department of Justice’s tactical preparations for the January 2021 presidential inauguration and was the special agent in charge of the New Haven Field Office in 2020.
The Trump administration removed the FBI’s Capitol Violence website, which included pictures of rioters who attacked police but were never taken into custody, and he pardoned over 1,500 individuals charged in relation to the Capitol incident. The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office division that had been looking into the disturbance was likewise shut down by the new administration.