![\"FBI\"](\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/sites\/cato.org\/files\/styles\/pubs_2x\/public\/2025-02\/FBI%203.jpg?itok=KPimyAhN\")
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Over the weekend, the Trump administration intensified its efforts to identify and target for retaliation FBI personnel connected to the now-closed investigations into Trump\u2019s role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, and his absconding with dozens of classified documents he was not entitled to retain per the Presidential Records Act<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the wake of the administration\u2019s Friday mass purge<\/a> of senior FBI leaders in Washington and elsewhere across the country, ABC News reported<\/a> on February 2 that a 12-question survey was sent to FBI personnel \u201casking about their work related to investigating the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.\u201d The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) apparently provided the tip to ABC and told the network that,<\/p>\n Employees carrying out their duties to investigate allegations of criminal activity with integrity and within the rule of law should never be treated as those who have engaged in actual misconduct.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This morning, the Washington Times<\/em> reported that Acting FBI Director and former FBI Newark Field Office head Brian Driscoll had apparently refused an order by Acting Attorney General Emile Bove \u201cto compile a list of all current and former FBI<\/a> employees assigned \u2018at any time\u2019 to the investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol\u00a0for review \u2018to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n The Times<\/em> also reported that,<\/p>\n The FBI<\/a> told The Washington Times that Mr. Driscoll<\/a> is still the acting director, but there is speculation among current and former FBI<\/a> agents over whether he will remain in that position after refusing Mr. Bove\u2019s order.<\/p>\n Sources said\u00a0that Mr. Driscoll\u2019s<\/a> team drove him to Newark, New Jersey, where he previously headed the field office.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s that last sentence that really caught my attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maybe Driscoll needed to visit the Newark office in connection with one or more ongoing investigations. But the fact that the Times<\/em>\u2019 sources made a point of noting that Driscoll\u2019s \u201cteam\u201d drove him to Newark means that he\u2019s got subordinates with guns at his side for a very different reason.<\/p>\n The Times<\/em> also reported that \u201ca protest by employees and former employees Monday at the Washington Field Office and headquarters is in the planning stages.\u201d<\/p>\n I cannot recall a time in FBI history when current or former employees have planned to gather in numbers to protest on federal property a sitting chief executive\u2019s personnel actions. At the same time, no prior president has attempted a Stalinist-like purge of career federal law enforcement officers at any point in US history.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also worth noting that the abrupt removal of hundreds or even thousands of FBI personnel will inevitably jeopardize ongoing counterintelligence, counterterrorism, cyber, and child sexual trafficking investigations, among many others, something former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R\u2011NJ) also noted<\/a> over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n
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