Fired FBI Officials Sue Patel, Claim Firings Were 'Retribution'

Three high-ranking FBI officials were fired last month in a "campaign of retribution" carried out by a director who knew better but caved to political pressure from the Trump administration, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that describes the White House as directly meddling in the bureau's personnel moves, the AP reports. The complaint says Director Kash Patel told one of the ousted agents, Brian Driscoll, that he knew it was "likely illegal" to fire agents based on cases they worked but was powerless to stop it because the White House and the Justice Department were determined to remove all agents who investigate President Trump. It quotes Patel as having told Driscoll in a conversation last month that "the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn't forgotten it."

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Driscoll, Steve Jensen, and Spencer Evans, three of five agents known to have been fired last month in a purge that current and former officials say has unnerved the workforce. The legal challenge from officials who once occupied the top rungs of the bureau's leadership ladder, and who together had decades of law enforcement experience, paints a portrait of an agency whose personnel decisions are shaped more by political considerations than public safety ones. Spokespeople for the FBI declined to comment on the lawsuit, as they also did after the agents were ousted.

The suit was filed in federal court in Washington, where judges and grand juries have pushed back against Trump administration initiatives and charging decisions. It names as defendants Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, as well as the FBI, the Justice Department and the Executive Office of the President. Besides reinstatement, the suit seeks, among other remedies, the awarding of back pay, an order declaring the firings illegal, and even a forum for them to clear their names. It notes that Patel, in a Fox News Channel interview two weeks after the terminations, said "every single person" found to have weaponized the FBI had been removed from leadership positions, even though the suit says there's no indication any of the three had done so. (Many more details from the complaint here.)