Federal Bureau of Investigation seal is seen on J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington D.C., United States of America on July 12th, 2024.
Beata Zawrzel | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Trump administration officials have forced out all six of the FBI’s most senior executives and multiple heads of FBI field offices across the country, current and former FBI officials told NBC News.
They included the high-profile leader of the Washington, D.C., field office, which was involved in the prosecutions of President Donald Trump, and federal prosecutors who investigated Jan. 6 rioters. A congressional aide said the number of prosecutors impacted is roughly two dozen.
A letter sent to the fired prosecutors said their removal was based on their role in the Jan. 6 prosecutions. It cited an executive order Trump recently signed that called the Jan. 6 prosecutions “a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years.”
In a separate memo to the FBI workforce sent out Friday night, the bureau’s acting director, Brian J. Driscoll, Jr., informed employees that acting Deputy Attorney General, Emil Bove, had asked for a list of all FBI employees who worked on January 6 cases for “a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”
“We understand that this request encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts,” Driscoll wrote. “I am one of those employees.”
It was not immediately clear why the FBI and DOJ officials had been ousted. The FBI and DOJ declined to comment.
The removals came a day after Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, testified under oath in his Senate confirmation hearing that, “all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.”
Asked by a reporter about the removals on Friday afternoon, Trump said he was not aware of them.
“No, but we have some very bad people over there. It was weaponized at a level that nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said. “They came after a lot of people like me, but they came after a lot of people. No, I wasn’t involved in that. I’ll have to see what is exactly going on after this is finished.”
Trump added, though, that he felt some FBI officials needed to be removed.
“If they fired some people over there, that’s a good thing, because they were very bad. They were very corrupt people, very corrupt, and they hurt our country very badly with the weaponization,” he said. “They used the Justice Department to go after their political opponent, which in itself is illegal, and obviously it didn’t work.”
David Sundberg, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, was notified Thursday that he was going to lose his job and is preparing to leave the bureau, according to two senior law enforcement sources.
Special agents from the FBI’s Washington field office were heavily involved in former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of Trump, as well as the sprawling investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Six top leaders in the the FBI’s headquarters in Washington were also forced out, the sources said. They included Robert Wells, who oversaw the national security branch; Ryan Young, of the intelligence branch; Robert Nordwall, of criminal and cyber response; Arlene Gaylord, of information technology; Jackie Maguire, of science and technology; and J. William Rivers, of human resources.
All but Gaylord are eligible for retirement with a full pension, and many decided to retire, the current and former officials said. They did so even though legal experts say they could have fought their terminations under the civil service regulations that govern nonpolitical appointees. All spent decades working their way up the bureau ranks.
Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge in Miami, was also ousted, current and former officials said.
Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas field office, told staffers in a note obtained by NBC News that he had been removed by officials in the FBI headquarters in Washington.
“I was informed by FBIHQ today that the executive leadership at the Department of Justice plans to dismiss me from the rolls of the FBI, along with several other FBI executives, as soon as Monday Morning,” Evans wrote. “I was given no rationale for this decision, which, as you might imagine, has come as a shock.”
Before he was sent to Las Vegas, Evans worked closely at headquarters with Christopher Wray, the FBI director Trump hired in 2017 and forced out this month.
Past removals
New FBI directors have imposed major changes in the past. Career agent Louis Freeh, who was appointed FBI director by President Bill Clinton in 1993, ordered hundreds of supervisors in Washington out into the field.
But that was after Freeh had been confirmed by the Senate to serve a 10-year term as FBI director. Although Patel has not been confirmed and is not working in the bureau, those who are running the agency in an acting capacity have relationships with him, people familiar with the matter say, including acting director Brian Driscoll.
The Trump team has also installed a director’s advisory committee that includes a former aide of Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a vocal FBI critic, and a person who has been affiliated with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It’s unclear what role, if any, these people played in the firings.
“People are shocked,” one senior FBI official said. “They have never seen anything like this before.”
“This is not done,” another FBI official said. “These are the top people.”
The FBI is staffed and run by nonpartisan career public servants, with the only political appointee being the director. In the past, FBI directors have sought to put distance between themselves and the presidents who appointed them, and have even investigated those presidents at times, as Freeh did with Clinton.
The 10-year term for director was created as both a check on the FBI director’s power and an attempt to ensure the director’s independence from the White House. J. Edgar Hoover led the bureau for nearly four decades, using the FBI’s intelligence-gathering prowess to blackmail and bully politicians.
Today’s FBI is even more powerful than the bureau of the 1970s. It has a vast electronic surveillance capability, a fleet of aircraft, sophisticated technical capabilities and one of the best-trained paramilitary squads. In addition to criminal investigations, FBI agents run some of the most sensitive investigations in the U.S. government, including hunting for spies and terrorists.
Some agents are hoping that the new administration will bring positive changes. The new advisers who have been brought in are said to be focusing on the bureau’s technology, leadership and training, accountability and organizational structure. Patel has said he wants fewer agents in headquarters and more in the field, an echo of Freeh.
Former agents concerned
Former FBI officials said Trump is ushering in a new era—one that experts say could fundamentally change the bureau — and may pose significant risks. They say the removals could weaken the bureau.
“The forced departure of some of the most experienced and proven leaders of the FBI puts our national security in the danger zone,” said Frank Figliuzzi, the former head of FBI counterintelligence and an NBC News contributor.
The 10-year term was created as both a check on the FBI director’s power and an attempt to insure the director’s independence from the White House. J Edgar Hoover led the bureau for nearly four decades, using the FBI’s intelligence-gathering prowess to blackmail and bully politicians.
Today’s FBI is even more powerful than the bureau of the 1970s. It has a vast electronic surveillance capability, a fleet of aircraft, sophisticated technical capabilities and one of the best-trained paramilitary squads. In addition to criminal investigations, FBI agents run some of the most sensitive investigations in the U.S. government, including hunting for spies and terrorists.
“This is having a big chilling an effect,” another FBI official said. “Which I imagine is the desired impact. Those who are able to retire are strongly considering it. Program managers, finance, intel, etc. This is the institutional knowledge base.”
The official added, “the general sentiment is that they would rather retire than stay in this environment but they are torn between the mission and retirement.”
During his confirmation hearing, Patel pledged to look forward, not back.
“There will be no weaponization at the FBI,’ he testified. “here will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI should I be confirmed as FBI director.”
