The Trump administration is expected to fire “dozens” of FBI agents who investigated him and those involved in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol incident.
Officials are reportedly considering whether individuals linked to former special counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 and classified documents investigations of Trump should be included in the firings. They are also assessing whether any agents may resist implementing the administration’s new initiatives, sources say.
Firings could begin as early as Friday, with a final list expected on Monday, according to sources.
The potential firings include heads of multiple field offices nationwide and could affect numerous agents in the FBI’s Washington, D.C., Field Office, sources said.
In response, an FBI spokesperson told ABC: “The FBI is declining to comment on any questions regarding FBI personnel matters. We have also instructed the public affairs officers in our field offices to decline to comment as well.”
Trump’s FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, was questioned during his confirmation hearing about whether agents who worked on Smith’s investigations would face retribution if he were confirmed.
“Every FBI employee will be held to the absolute same standard, and no one will be terminated for cases,” Patel said. “All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.”
The FBI Agents Association criticized the reported actions, stating they contradict Patel’s prior commitments that agents would receive due process and not face retribution based on their assigned cases.
“If true, these outrageous actions by acting officials are fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by President Trump and his support for FBI Agents,” the association stated.
“Dismissing potentially hundreds of agents would severely weaken the Bureau’s ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and could set up its new leadership for failure.”
Later in the Oval Office, Trump was asked about potential Justice Department firings and suggested it could be beneficial.
“If they fired some people over there, that’s a good thing because they were very bad,” Trump said. “They used the Justice Department to target their political opponents, which in itself is illegal.”
Asked if he personally requested any action, Trump denied it but added, “We have some very bad people over there. It was weaponized at a level that nobody’s ever seen before.”
