According to several current and former FBI officials who spoke to NBC News, Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll resisted a Justice Department request on Friday to help fire agents implicated in riot cases from January 6th with such vigor that several FBI officials believed he would be fired.
In the end, the Justice Department decided not to fire Driscoll. In a message distributed to the staff on Friday evening, he stated that he had been directed to dismiss eight top FBI officials and provide the names of all FBI personnel who had been involved in cases involving the Capitol riots.
The eight executives have been evicted, but Driscoll did not specify in the document if he would provide the larger list of people connected to January 6th, which he stated includes him and thousands of other FBI personnel.
As we have stated since accepting these positions, we will always act in the best interests of the American people and the workforce, as well as in accordance with the law and FBI policy. Former FBI elite hostage rescue team member Driscoll wrote.
An FBI agent summed up what transpired in a message that went viral among bureau staff members as follows: In the end, DOJ arrived and sought to terminate several J6 agents. Driscoll is a total hottie. He refused to back down and told DOJ, the WH proxy, to F-Off.
Neither the Justice Department nor the FBI would comment. “It’s not true,” a senior FBI official said, disputing the statements made by the current and former officials.
He pushed back aggressively, according to a former FBI official who knows Driscoll well.
Agents who worked on Jan. 6th cases targeted
The eight top FBI executives are the only ones known to have been cut off from the agency. “Top Trump Administration officials have made it clear that they want at least some of the FBI agents who pursued January 6th cases to be fired, just as multiple DOJ prosecutors involved with the Jan. 6th prosecutions were fired,” according to one individual familiar with the situation.
The insider stated that although FBI officials have informed them that misbehavior charges within the bureau entail a formal review procedure, the Trump administration wants this to happen as soon as possible.
The reports of Driscoll’s actions provide fresh insight into a tumultuous 48-hour sequence of events that started with the revelation that the Trump administration was attempting to fire the top FBI career civil servants.
“The acting Deputy Attorney General sent me a memo late this afternoon informing me that, unless they have retired earlier, eight senior FBI executives will be let go by certain dates,” Driscoll wrote. “I have been personally in touch with each of these impacted employees.”
According to the memo, he was also instructed to give the DoJ a list of all FBI personnel involved in cases involving the Capitol riots and a case against a Hamas leader by Tuesday at noon.
The concentration on January 6th was evident, but no one NBC spoke with seemed to understand the new administration’s interest in the Hamas case. Apparently, the Trump administration feels that none of the cases from January 6th should have been filed.
In his report, Driscoll recognized that thousands of FBI officials were involved because it was the greatest criminal investigation in U.S. history.
He replied, “We recognize that this request includes thousands of workers nationwide who have contributed to these investigations.” Both Rob Kissane, the acting Deputy Director, and I are among those staff members.
FBI Agents encouraged
According to the source, FBI agents were encouraged by Driscoll’s message, which many interpreted as an effort on his part to inform the public and workforce of what he was being ordered to do.
One person who knows how agents think told NBC News that he was attempting to do the right thing for the workforce. He’s writing it down and giving names to it.
The employees who were evicted were listed in a different DoJ memo that NBC News was able to get.
Four senior FBI supervisors were on the list: Ryan Young from the intelligence branch, Robert Nordwall from the criminal and cyber response division, Jackie Maguire from the science and technology division, and Robert Wells, who headed the national security division. Many of those individuals took advantage of their retirement rights.
Two field office heads, David Sundberg in Washington, DC, and Jeffrey Veltri in Miami, were also named in the memo.
The list also included Dena Perkins, the security division’s acting section leader who was embroiled in a contentious disciplinary case against a conservative FBI agent.
Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge in Las Vegas, who informed coworkers on Friday that he was being fired by FBI headquarters, was not on the list. As you might guess, this decision has come as a shock to me because I was not provided any explanation. It’s unclear if he’s been granted a reprieve.
Executive Assistant Director Arlene Gaylord, a 33-year FBI veteran who was not eligible for retirement and asked to be let to serve on another assignment until she was, was also not on the list. She had been accommodated, according to an FBI official with knowledge of the situation.
Experts say the firings are illegal
Because the workers were not given due process, legal experts claimed that few, if any, of the terminations made by the Trump administration thus far have been permitted by civil service statutes.
However, the Trump administration contends that the president has the unassailable authority to dismiss any member of the executive branch. According to a Supreme Court decision, federal workers are entitled to a hearing prior to facing disciplinary action or termination.
The terminations were deemed unlawful by Joyce Vance, a former U.S. Attorney and legal contributor for NBC News.
According to Vance, career government employees can be let go for misconduct or poor performance rather than for not exhibiting political allegiance to the current White House incumbent. Any dismissal of permanent federal servants should be illegal unless the Supreme Court modifies its view, which Trump did by disobeying laws and rules.
They claimed that their careers in public service had been severely harmed, if not destroyed, even if some of the employees were successful in their lawsuits.
One of the prosecutors who were fired on Friday for their work on January 6 told NBC News that they had no regrets and had done nothing wrong. After witnessing Trump pardon violent rioters who attacked police officers, the individual, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisals, said it was disheartening to be let go.
All of us have been watching our backs, wondering if this will be the day we lose our jobs. since we were carrying out our duties? The prosecutor who was sacked told NBC News. All of the cases we have been working on involving these extremely violent offenders have had to be dismissed. It has been terrible.
According to current and former FBI agents, the agency’s purge has severely damaged morale by conveying a message that agents who work on cases that enrage a Trump administration official may be singled out.
Would anyone want to take on a case that would put them at odds with the administration at this time? A former FBI official inquired. They’ll pursue you.