FBI agents have filed two lawsuits against the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to protect their identities. The lawsuits were prompted by growing concerns that their personal information could be exposed by individuals linked to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. These individuals, many of whom were pardoned by former President Donald Trump, have begun identifying law enforcement personnel involved in their cases on social media.
Trump issued pardons to approximately 1,500 individuals hours after taking office on January 20, 2021. Since then, some of those pardoned have publicly targeted the prosecutors and FBI agents involved in their prosecutions.
The lawsuits were filed just before a 3 p.m. deadline set by Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove. Bove had ordered the FBI to provide a list of all employees who participated in the January 6 investigation. Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll informed staff that the list would include thousands of FBI employees, including himself.
On Tuesday, FBI leadership submitted the requested list to the Justice Department, but it did not contain any names. Instead, the list provided only a “unique employee identifier” for each agent, along with their job title at the time of the investigation, their current assignment, their role in the investigation, and the date of their last involvement. This was confirmed by an internal FBI email and a source familiar with the matter. The Justice Department has not disclosed its plans for handling the list.
In one lawsuit, a group of anonymous FBI agents claimed that the Justice Department’s actions could lead to the identification of agents who might face dismissal or other penalties. The plaintiffs expressed concerns that the release of their identities could place them and their families in danger from individuals involved in the riot who had been pardoned. “Plaintiffs reasonably fear that all or parts of this list might be published by allies of President Trump, thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit also revealed that as many as 6,000 FBI employees may have participated in the January 6 investigations in some capacity.
The second lawsuit, filed by the FBI Agents Association, echoed these concerns, seeking legal measures to safeguard the identities of those involved in the investigation. The association also pointed out that around 140 police officers were assaulted during the Capitol attack, with some being sprayed with chemicals or struck with pipes and other weapons.
In recent developments, Acting Deputy Attorney General Bove dismissed eight senior FBI officials and about 17 prosecutors who were involved in the investigation. Additionally, Acting Attorney General James McHenry terminated more than a dozen federal prosecutors who had worked on criminal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith related to Trump’s retention of classified documents and his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
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