 |
Kash Patel and Sen. Adam Schiff square off at hearing.
|
Americans who thought Donald Trump was not serious about seeking retribution against people he perceives wronged him might want to rethink that. The New York Times, under the headline "Top officials have
been told to retire or be fired in the coming days, fueling fear within
an agency that has been a target of President Trump and Kash Patel, his
nominee to be F.B.I. director," provides evidence that Trump's retribution tour is gaining steam, rather than slowing down. That, however, does not mean the Trump scheme is lawful. We already have pointed to signs that it is, in fact, unlawful, and we will further examine that issue in upcoming posts.
Times' reporters Adam Goodman and Devlin Barrett write:
The Justice Department’s campaign of retribution against officials who
investigated President Trump and his supporters accelerated late Friday
with the firing of more than a dozen federal prosecutors at the U.S.
attorney’s office in Washington, according to a department memo. The
Trump administration also plans to examine scores of F.B.I. agents
involved in investigations into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol,
setting up a potential purge of the bureau, according to people familiar
with the matter.
The Trump
administration plans to scrutinize thousands of F.B.I. agents involved
in Jan. 6 investigations, setting the stage for a possible purge that
goes far beyond the bureau’s leaders to target rank-and-file agents,
according to internal documents and people familiar with the matter.
The proposal came on a day that more than a dozen prosecutors
at the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, who had worked on cases
involving the Jan. 6 riot, were told that they were being terminated.
The
moves were a powerful indication that Mr. Trump has few qualms
deploying the colossal might of federal law enforcement to punish
perceived political enemies, even as his cabinet nominees offered sober
assurances they would abide by the rule of law. Forcing out both agents
and prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases would amount to a wide-scale
assault on the Justice Department.
On
Friday, interim leaders at the department instructed the F.B.I. to
notify more than a half-dozen high-ranking career officials that they
faced termination, according to a copy of an internal memo obtained by
The New York Times.
Individuals who used to be Trump's personal lawyers appeared to be leading the assault against some of the FBI's most senior officials. From The Times' report:
The
acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, also told the acting
leadership of the F.B.I. to compile a list of all agents and F.B.I.
staff “assigned at any time to investigations and/or prosecutions”
relating to the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — the day a mob of
Trump supporters stormed through the halls of Congress.
In issuing his
directive, Mr. Bove, who has overseen an opening volley of threats,
firings and forced transfers since the inauguration, cited Mr. Trump’s
executive order vowing to end “the weaponization of the federal
government.”
Under
President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the government waged a “systematic
campaign against its perceived political opponents,” including by
deploying law enforcement to pursue its rivals, he said.
The
memo also demands the names of agents who worked on a case against
Hamas leadership, though it is not clear why it was added to the list of
agents under scrutiny. Prosecutors and agents had disagreed about the
merits of the case.
The
office of the deputy attorney general “will commence a review process
to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary”
against those F.B.I. agents, analysts and staff, according to the memo,
which was addressed to Brian Driscoll, the acting F.B.I. director.
In
an email to F.B.I. employees Friday night, Mr. Driscoll noted that he
was among the agents who would be on such a list. The F.B.I. has been
told to submit the list of names by Tuesday.
“We
understand that this request encompasses thousands of employees across
the country who have supported these investigative efforts,” Mr.
Driscoll wrote, who added that he and his deputy “are going to follow
the law, follow F.B.I. policy and do what’s in the best interest of the
work force and the American people — always.”
Later,
the F.B.I.’s counterterrorism division sent an email to field offices
around the country with instructions about filling a database with
bureau personnel who worked on the cases — a number likely to be about
6,000.
People
familiar with the internal discussions said that some Trump
administration officials are moving to force scores, or possibly
hundreds, of agents out of the F.B.I. in the coming days and weeks.
Officials have discussed notifying a large number of agents that they
face possible termination, demotion or transfer.
What kind of repercussions are such directives having? The Times reports:
At
the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, more than a dozen prosecutors
who had worked on Jan. 6-related cases were told that they were being
terminated, according to people familiar with the notices.
Those
informed of their dismissals had been hired as the office struggled to
manage what became the largest prosecution in the department’s history.
In another memo,
Mr. Bove said the prosecutors in question had been short-term hires that
were improperly made permanent staff during the Biden administration.
“I will not tolerate subversive personnel actions,” he wrote.
Mr.
Bove offered no evidence those targeted had done anything improper,
illegal or unethical. Instead, he cited a legal technicality and
questioned whether those targeted would allow the U.S. attorney’s office
to “faithfully implement the agenda that the American people elected
President Trump to execute.”
The
moves come just one day after Kash Patel, Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the
F.B.I., testified before Congress that the bureau would not be targeted
for political reasons.
“All
F.B.I. employees will be protected against political retribution,” Mr.
Patel said during his confirmation hearing on Thursday.
Around the time that Mr. Patel appeared before the committee, a handful of senior F.B.I. employees were informed that they needed to resign in a matter of days or be fired, part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to shake up the agency’s upper ranks.
The
moves are highly unusual in part because they are happening before a
director has been confirmed to take charge of the bureau. The timing of
these moves — made while the nominations of Mr. Patel and Pam Bondi for
attorney general are still pending — could lessen the blowback for them —
or it could jeopardize their support among Republican senators.
A
department spokesman, and Mr. Patel’s representative, did not
immediately respond to requests for comment. F.B.I. officials declined
to comment. The people familiar with the planning spoke on the condition
of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
In
a statement, the F.B.I. Agents Association said that if true, “these
outrageous actions by acting officials are fundamentally at odds with
the law enforcement objectives outlined by President Trump.”
“Dismissing
potentially hundreds of agents would severely weaken the bureau’s
ability to protect the country from national security and criminal
threats,” the statement continued.
If
the administration follows through, it would be a singular moment in
the F.B.I.’s history, and fly in the face of decades worth of civil
service laws that are meant to protect the integrity and professionalism
of the government work force."
Mr.
Patel, speaking under oath, also promised to follow established bureau
procedures in seeking terminations or transfers, including referring
accusations of improper conduct by prosecutors to the Justice
Department’s inspector general before taking action.
F.B.I.
officials were already bracing for swift changes, but the forced
retirements and the dismissal of senior agents in the field and at
headquarters this week has led to immense unease. Agents are worried
that they will be fired for investigations that angered Mr. Trump —
especially those who worked on squads at the Washington field office on
the criminal inquiry into Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents
as well as the inquiry into a fake electors’ scheme.
Two
of the senior agents who ran field offices in Miami and Las Vegas and
were forced out had been criticized by former agents with ties to Mr. Patel’s foundation,
a nonprofit that Mr. Patel has said gives aid to a range of recipients,
including the families of those charged in the Jan. 6 riot.
Some
F.B.I. personnel expressed frustration that the bureau’s leadership
provided little guidance as rumors circulated widely about firings and
about colleagues being escorted out of field offices. Mr. Driscoll’s
email Friday night ended some of that confusion, though it confirmed
some of their deepest fears.
Jason Manning, a former federal prosecutor who worked on Jan. 6 cases, warned of the consequences.
“It
will mean firing agents who investigate child sex crimes, violent
crimes, immigration crimes, Chinese espionage and lots of other criminal
activity that President Trump claims to care about,” he said. “Our
country is significantly weaker and more dangerous because of this.”
The disarray in the bureau was also evident on its website,
which notably omitted the name of the acting director, Mr. Driscoll.
Inside the bureau, one person said that the atmosphere was sullen and
that employees were startled by what was unfolding as top F.B.I.
officials scrambled to complete the required retirement paperwork, with
the agents turning in their badges.
Mr. Driscoll and Robert C. Kissane, his acting deputy, said goodbye to their colleagues.
In an interview, Democratic lawmakers denounced the moves.
“They
are hollowing out our professional law enforcement community,” said
Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a Democrat who questioned Mr.
Patel at the confirmation hearing. “It is the absolute height of
arrogance to be doing exactly what their F.B.I. nominee promised not to
do.”
Retribution
has been swift at the Justice Department as about a dozen prosecutors
who worked on the two criminal investigations into Mr. Trump for
special counsel Jack Smith were fired.
Mr.
Trump once called the Jan. 6 riot a “heinous attack,” but in one of his
first official acts, he granted sweeping clemency to all of the nearly
1,600 people charged in the assault. He issued pardons to most of the
defendants and commuted the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys
and the Oath Keepers militia, most of whom were convicted of seditious
conspiracy.
During
Mr. Patel’s testimony on Thursday, Senator John Kennedy, Republican of
Louisiana, told Mr. Patel that lawmakers would hold him accountable if
he tried to exact revenge at the F.B.I., saying two wrongs did not make a
right.
“And
there have been and may still be some bad people there, and you’ve got
to find out who the bad people are and get rid of them, in accordance
with due process and the rule of law,” Mr. Kennedy said. “And then
you’ve got to lift up the good people. Don’t go over there and burn that
place down. Go over there and make it better.”
The
F.B.I. has been in turmoil since Christopher A. Wray, the former
director, stepped down before Mr. Trump took office. After Mr. Wray’s
deputy abruptly resigned and shortly after Mr. Trump took office, the
administration identified the wrong agent as acting director.
Instead of correcting the error, officials kept it in the hope that a new director would be quickly confirmed, The Wall Street Journal earlier reported.
Mr.
Kissane, who had been the top counterterrorism agent in New York, had
been widely believed to be in line to be acting director, several
current and former agents said, with Mr. Driscoll, a decorated agent in
the F.B.I.’s New York field office as the No. 2. But when the White
House unveiled its website after Mr. Trump was inaugurated, Mr. Driscoll
was named in the top job.
Mr.
Patel, speaking under oath, also promised to follow established bureau
procedures in seeking terminations or transfers, including referring
accusations of improper conduct by prosecutors to the Justice
Department’s inspector general before taking action.
Two
of the senior agents who ran field offices in Miami and Las Vegas and
were forced out had been criticized by former agents with ties to Mr. Patel’s foundation,
a nonprofit that Mr. Patel has said gives aid to a range of recipients,
including the families of those charged in the Jan. 6 riot.
Some
F.B.I. personnel expressed frustration that the bureau’s leadership
provided little guidance as rumors circulated widely about firings and
about colleagues being escorted out of field offices. Mr. Driscoll’s
email Friday night ended some of that confusion, though it confirmed
some of their deepest fears.
Big question: Who gave Musk and his allies access to a government building and to sensitive government documents, filled with personal info on employees? Why does somebody want Musk to have that information? More details ahead in an upcoming post.
