A Justice Department official ordered the firing of at least eight senior FBI executives and a sweeping examination of the work of thousands of other bureau employees, including all those who worked on investigations tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The directive from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said field agents and support staff could face “additional personnel action,” suggesting that the number of firings could swell in the coming weeks. “I do not believe the current leadership of the Justice Department can trust these FBI employees to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully,” Bove wrote. It is unusual for senior staffing changes to be made under interim leadership at the FBI, an agency that is supposed to be insulated from politics, reports the Washington Post. Bove was appointed acting deputy attorney general last week, after serving as one of the president’s personal defense attorneys in cases he has now flagged for review.
Asked whether he had ordered firings of FBI agents, Trump said: “No, but we have some very bad people there … I wasn’t involved in that. But if they want to fire some people, it is fine with me.” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) —top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “Unelected Trump lackeys are carrying out widespread political retribution against our nation’s career law enforcement officials.” While FBI agents can be terminated for cause, there is typically an extensive disciplinary process involved. Mark Zaid, an attorney specializing in federal employment law, said FBI employees are entitled to receive a proposed punishment or discipline action in writing, and also a written justification outlining the standards of employee conduct they are accused of violating. The employee would then have a two-stage opportunity to appeal a recommended firing or other punishment. Zaid said any mass dismissal of agents would be legally risky for the Trump administration. He said the administration is "acting so recklessly and with disregard to any laws or norms, they are making a ton of errors to satisfy their outspoken base that seek retribution. And they are creating a lot of legal claims.”