'Symmetrical action at the FBI': purging agents and prosecutors over January 6 casework

Prosecutors and FBI officials who worked January 6 or Trump-related cases were fired or forced to resign; a lawsuit from senior FBI agents alleging retaliatory firing was ongoing as of the write-up date

On January 31, 2025, DOJ leadership, via a memo from Acting AG James McHenry, directed Washington's acting US Attorney to immediately fire prosecutors who had worked on January 6 Capitol riot cases, with an appendix naming the employees to be terminated; some had been converted from term to permanent employees by the outgoing Biden DOJ specifically to carry out the sprawling prosecution effort. The same day, then-acting Deputy AG Emil Bove ordered a review of all current and former FBI employees 'assigned at any time' to the January 6 investigation, the largest in DOJ history, spanning more than 1,500 defendants and touching agents in field offices nationwide.

Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll refused Bove's initial demand for a full list of names, citing national-security risk and civil-service law, according to a subsequent lawsuit; Bove told Driscoll he was under pressure from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to see 'symmetrical action at the FBI as had been happening at DOJ.' Driscoll ultimately produced a list of roughly 6,000 employee ID numbers rather than names, to shield agents from retaliation, a compromise that became a subject of internal FBI folklore (agents circulated memes depicting Driscoll as Batman standing up to Bove, portrayed as the villain Bane). Separately, in late January 2025, about a half-dozen senior career FBI executive assistant directors overseeing criminal, national security, and cyber investigations, plus at least two field-office heads, were told to resign or be fired.

On September 10, 2025, three senior and decorated FBI agents sued the administration, alleging a 'campaign of retribution' that fired them for refusing to demonstrate personal loyalty, timed to occur just before they could collect early-retirement benefits. The suit detailed one agent's alarm at new FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino's focus on social-media engagement over investigative rigor, and Bove's demand to identify an agent who had worked politically sensitive cases. Bove has since been confirmed to a lifetime federal appellate judgeship.

Documented

Litigated; senior agents sued alleging retaliatory firing before retirement vesting

Purge directive 2025-01-31; senior FBI officials forced out ~2025-01 to 02; agents' lawsuit filed 2025-09-10