FBI agents who participated in the investigation into President Donald Trump have filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department's attempt to compile a list of employees involved in those investigations. The FBI agents involved in the lawsuit fear that the list could be a step toward their dismissal.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, seeks an immediate halt to the Justice Department's plans to compile a list of agents who participated in the investigation of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, as well as the Trump campaign and the issue of secret documents at Mr. Trump's Florida home.
The lawsuit is an escalation of a dispute that erupted Friday after the Justice Department announced it had asked the FBI for the names, offices and titles of all employees involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, investigations so officials can assess whether any personnel action is necessary. Thousands of FBI employees were also asked over the weekend to fill out a questionnaire about their participation in those investigations, a step they worry could lead to termination.
This type of scrutiny of career employees is highly unusual given that FBI agents do not choose the cases they are assigned to work on, historically do not change positions, or receive any kind of discipline due to their participation in politically sensitive cases, because there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by FBI agents or lawyers during their investigative work.
But President Trump has long been angry with the FBI and the Justice Department and has called for changes to the federal law enforcement agency. He was investigated as president by agents over possible ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia, and after leaving the White House, he faced investigations into allegations of trying to sway the outcome of the 2020 election and withholding classified documents. The investigations into his efforts to sway the outcome of the election and withholding classified documents were closed after he won the presidency in November of last year.
The agents who filed the lawsuit Tuesday were not identified by name. They say they received a questionnaire on Sunday about their involvement in the Jan. 6 investigation or at Mar-a-Lago and that if they did not answer it, it would be answered by their subordinates. The answers would be "forwarded to senior management," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit states that President Trump during the campaign "repeatedly stated that he would 'avenge' those he called 'political hostages', individuals imprisoned for their actions during the January 6 attack."
The agents claim that “the very act of compiling lists of individuals who have worked on matters of concern to President Donald Trump is of a retaliatory nature, intended to intimidate FBI agents and other personnel and discourage them from reporting potential future violations by Donald Trump and his agents.”
"Donald Trump has made repeated public statements about his intention to retaliate against individuals he perceives as disloyal to him," the lawsuit states.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter. VOA (A2 Televizion)
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