FBI employees fired over Trump classified documents probe sue to be reinstated

FBI employees fired over Trump classified documents probe sue to be reinstated The complaint represents nine agents, intelligence analysts, and operational staff who were ousted in February - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in A group of FBI personnel who were fired after participating in the inquiry into President Donald Trump’s retention of classified material at his Florida residence filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking reinstatement, describing their firings as unlawful acts of "political retribution." The legal action adds to a mounting series of court challenges addressing widespread terminations executed under FBI Director Kash Patel, targeting agents involved in investigations of the Republican president or perceived as opposed to the administration's interests. Brought in federal court in Washington, the complaint represents nine agents, intelligence analysts, and operational staff who were ousted in February. Their dismissals followed prior terminations of personnel who worked on the probe into Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. While Patel previously testified to Congress that the targeted staff had "weaponized" the agency, the plaintiffs reject the allegation in their filing. They highlight more than a century of combined, apolitical service, which included responding to the Boston Marathon bombing, managing hostage recoveries, and investigating the 2024 attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania. The lawsuit contends that their removals deal an "immeasurable loss" to national security. "In return for their service, they were fired because they did their jobs, as they always did to follow the facts and law without bias or favor. To this administration, this is an offense. To the rest of us, it is heroic," stated their legal counsel, Margaret Donovan, Abbe Lowell, and Rebecca Tinio. "This lawsuit will prove their unlawful dismissal and hold the administration accountable for this blatant attack on the rule of law," their statement added. The court documents set out a comprehensive account of the allegations against Trump, detailing how he improperly stored dozens of classified files at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House, displayed them to unauthorized individuals, and obstructed FBI efforts to retrieve them. That inquiry led to a dramatic 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, where classified records were recovered, ultimately resulting in a federal indictment in Florida containing dozens of felony counts against Trump. Trump denied wrongdoing. The case was dismissed in 2024 by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, who ruled that special counsel Jack Smith had been improperly appointed by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice. According to the lawsuit, the nine personnel did not request assignment to the probe; rather, they were designated to it through their roles on specialized counterespionage and counterintelligence units. The filing asserts they were nevertheless removed due to unfounded assumptions that performing their law enforcement duties ran "afoul of the political and personal loyalty to Trump that Defendants demanded." "By casting Plaintiffs’ work on the Plasmic Echo investigation as ‘politically weaponized,’ Defendants incorrectly presumed to know the personal political convictions of Plaintiffs and took unlawful action based on that presumption," states the filing, referencing the internal FBI code name for the classified documents inquiry. "Worse still, Defendants incorrectly concluded that those personal political convictions affected or drove their work." The plaintiffs are requesting reinstatement to their roles within the FBI, back pay, and a court order declaring their dismissals illegal. Attorneys representing the personnel contend that their clients' fate was sealed long before February, characterizing the actions as the culmination of a long-running retribution campaign that accelerated once Trump returned to the White House in 2025. The suit notes that before becoming FBI director, Patel had publicly criticized the Mar-a-Lago search as "unlawful" during his time as a conservative podcaster, calling participating agents "corrupt government gangsters." Days after Trump was inaugurated, a top Justice Department official demanded that the bureau provide a list of staff who had worked on Trump-related matters. The directive was resisted by then-director Brian Driscoll and widely interpreted by employees as a potential precursor to broad terminations. In the ensuing months, the FBI and Justice Department carried out successive waves of dismissals involving personnel associated with Trump investigations, proceeding without the hearings or formal notices that lawyers argue are legally mandated. The filing states that the Mar-a-Lago team members were terminated in February after Patel disclosed to Reuters that the bureau had subpoenaed his phone toll records—which log call dates, times, and durations rather than content—during the course of the probe. "The Plaintiffs were unlawfully terminated not for any cause or any legitimate reason, but only to satisfy the President’s personal vendetta," the complaint states. "The firings did not follow any internal investigation or disciplinary process within the FBI, and Plaintiffs were not given any notice, a hearing, or an opportunity to appeal." 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