FBI Agents Association Rebukes Director Patel for ‘Chaos’ from ‘Campaign of Erratic and Arbitrary Retribution’

Jose Luis Magana/AP photo

The FBI Agents Association issued a statement Tuesday rebuking Director Kash Patel over what it characterized as “chaos” resulting from the agency recently firing and rehiring agents.

Since January, Patel has fired multiple agents who worked on investigations with former Special Counsel Jack Smith on cases involving President Donald Trump or the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Several of those terminations were later reversed, Reuters reported.

Some of the affected agents’ names were included in unredacted documents released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

Altogether, dozens of FBI agents, prosecutors, and other Department of Justice employees have been forced out of their jobs, among the developments in Trump’s second term that have been criticized as undermining the independence of the DOJ and creating ethical concerns. A lawsuit challenging the terminations argues that the White House improperly pressured the DOJ to fire the plaintiffs.

The FBI Agents Association issued a statement Tuesday condemning the recent firings, as reported by MSNBC’s Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian.

The statement read:

The actions yesterday – in which FBI Special Agents were terminated and then reinstated shortly after – highlight the chaos that occurs when long-standing policies and processes are ignored. An Agent simply being assigned to an investigation and conducting it appropriately within the law should never be grounds for termination. Director Patel has disregarded the law and launched a campaign of erratic and arbitrary retribution. FBI Agents deal in facts, and we urge Director Patel to do the same. When leadership abandons due process, it doesn’t just erode trust – it makes the American public less safe. FBI Agents must be free to focus on protecting the American people, not fear losing their jobs over third party social media posts.

Leonnig characterized the statement as a “rare rebuke,” but the FBIAA has been notably more outspoken in response to these recent firings. A review of the organization’s website finds several press releases in which it “strongly condemns” the firing of FBI Assistant Director Brian Driscoll and other special agents in early August and an August 21 letter to Senate and House Judiciary Committee leadership alleging that Patel had provided the due process protections required under federal law in the summary terminations of Driscoll and the other agents.

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