The FBI Staffers Kash Patel Ousted Because They Worked on Mar-a-Lago Probe Had Iran Expertise: Report

Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images

FBI Director Kash Patel fired at least a dozen counterintelligence staffers at the FBI mere days before the U.S. strikes on Iran, despite their relevant expertise, because they had also previously worked on the investigation into the classified documents at President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, according to a report by the New York Sun.

The ousted staffers included agents and personnel from a counterintelligence unit called CI-12 in the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and the firings were ordered directly by Patel, reported the Sun’s Daniel Edward Rosen, citing “four former officials familiar with the dismissals.” Their work focused on “media leaks, global espionage, and threats that included those involving the Iranian regime.”

“More broadly, CI squads are the lead domestic teams for investigating insider threats and foreign intelligence activity on American soil,” wrote Rosen.

The timing of these firings came just days before the beginning of the Iran strikes and a mass shooting at a bar in downtown Austin, Texas by a man who was wearing clothing that said “Property of Allah” and a design resembling the Iranian flag.

The reason the CI-12 staffers were fired, wrote Rosen, was because they “had previously been assigned, in some capacity, to the Justice Department’s investigation — under the aegis of the Biden administration at the time — into Mr. Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.”

A week ago, Patel had told Reuters he had found out that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and the FBI “had secretly obtained his phone records, along with those of Trump aide and current White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, as part of Mr. Smith’s investigations into Mar-a-Lago as well as into January 6,” wrote Rosen.

Patel claimed this subpoena was the action of a “weaponized” Biden DOJ, calling it “outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records — along with those of now-White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight.”

A few hours after the Reuters article was published, the FBI fired “at least a dozen” of the CI-12 employees who worked on the Mar-a-Lago investigation and were believed to have worked on the subpoenas of Patel and Wiles’ phone records, reported Rosen.

Patel has been under scrutiny after his trip to the Olympics in Milan, Italy, specifically video clips showing him drinking alcohol and celebrating with the U.S. Men’s hockey team after they won a gold medal.

Several former FBI officials criticized Patel for firing the CI-12 staffers, telling the Sun that they were an important part of the FBI’s counterintelligence work regarding Iran.

Michael E. Anderson, President of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, issued a statement to the Sun:

The summary dismissal of experienced Agents and analysts, especially those with experience in Iranian counter- intelligence, seriously undermines the FBI workforce in addressing the significant and ever-increasing threats our nation faces today. We strongly urge that Director Patel and FBI leadership end summary dismissals and follow FBI policy and the U.S. Constitution with respect to due process for all FBI employees.

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