By Steve Neavling
Three high-ranking FBI officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging they were ousted in a “campaign of retribution” orchestrated by the Trump administration, with direct interference from the White House in the bureau’s personnel moves.
The complaint says Director Kash Patel admitted to one of the agents, Brian Driscoll, that the firings were “likely illegal” but unavoidable because “the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it,” the Associated Press reports. Driscoll, along with Steve Jensen and Spencer Evans, were among five agents dismissed last month in a purge that former officials say has shaken the bureau.
“Patel not only acted unlawfully but deliberately chose to prioritize politicizing the FBI over protecting the American people,” the suit says.
It argues that removing “three of the FBI’s most experienced operational leaders” harmed national security.
The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, names Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the Executive Office of the President as defendants. It seeks reinstatement, back pay, and a declaration that the firings were illegal.
It also cites Patel’s Fox News interview two weeks after the terminations, in which he said “every single person” who weaponized the FBI had been removed. The plaintiffs argue the remark was a “false and defamatory public smear” that damaged their reputations and career prospects.
The FBI declined to comment.
