‘Incredibly Dangerous’: Chris Christie Says Trump’s ‘Overboard’ FBI Purge Puts America at Risk in ‘Threat Assessment We Have’

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove has directed acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll to submit a list of all current and former FBI employees and agents who were involved with January 6 cases, in a memo titled “Terminations” that was obtained by multiple press outlets.

President Donald Trump and his administration have already begun mass firings of DOJ personnel, including FBI agents and field officed heads, who were escorted out in a Friday night “purge.”

And it is all “incredibly dangerous” to national security, former NJ Governor Chris Christie told George Stephanopoulos on Sunday’s edition of This Week from ABC News.

Stephanopoulos asked Christie, a former prosecutor himself, about the so-called purge and the effect it may be having on the rank-and-file agents of the FBI.

Christie said that people at the bureau are “stunned” by the firings, and that “none of these agents who worked on the January 6th cases volunteered,” but instead were assigned by their superiors, which is how it works at the FBI.

He added that those who fight their firings are likely to file grievances and lawsuits that they’ll ultimately win before then saying that the mass firings are going to have a huge and dangerous impact on the FBI’s ability to do its job and protect Americans.

“In the threat assessment we have right now across the world, to lose that many agents and then take a year to a year and a half to try to replace them is incredibly dangerous for our national security, and for what? Because they did their jobs,” he said.

CHRISTIE: And let me tell you, they’re all civil service protected, George. None of them are political appointees. So what’s going to happen for these folks who don’t go voluntarily is they’re going to file grievances and lawsuits and they’re ultimately going to win them.

And the last piece I would say is this: Understand how long it takes to get a new FBI agent on board. If you fire hundreds, if not thousands, and it would be thousands on this list of FBI agents, it takes 12 to 18 months to get them on board.

By the time you go through the interviewing process, the vetting process, then they go to Quantico for their training, and then become on board as a brand new FBI agent. In the threat assessment we have right now across the world, to lose that many agents and then take a year to a year and a half to try to replace them is incredibly dangerous for our national security.

And for what? Because they did their jobs.

And if the president wants to do this by pardoning people? Well, I disagree with pardoning people who violently attacked police officers on Capitol Hill. It’s his right under the Constitution to do it, but this is overboard, and it’s not going to work.

Watch the clip above via ABC News.