A new lawsuit filed by three fired FBI agents alleges that FBI Director Kash Patel told at least one of them that passing vetting by President Donald Trump’s transition team would be easy—so long as he hadn’t voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, among other criteria.
Legal experts circulated the suit online, identifying the plaintiffs as Brian Driscoll, former acting FBI director; Steve Jensen, former assistant director in charge of the Washington, D.C. field office; and Spencer Evans, former special agent in charge of the Las Vegas field office.
MSNBC reported Wednesday that Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi carried out the firings under orders from the White House and Justice Department. According to the lawsuit, Patel told at least one agent, “his ability to keep his own job depended on the removal of agents who worked on cases involving the President,” and stated there was nothing he or Driscoll could do to prevent the firings.
Reporters Ken Dilanian and Carol Leonnig note that the 69-page complaint claims the men were the targets of “politically motivated retribution” and are seeking to vindicate their constitutional and legal rights. If their allegations are true, it would reveal FBI leadership “consumed by the whims of a Trump White House that targeted employees solely for political reasons.”
The suit further asserts that Patel told FBI employees they could be fired regardless of retirement or eligibility status. Driscoll recounts being told point-blank that “the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.”
Even though agents have no say in which cases they are assigned, the lawsuit claims Trump demanded that anyone connected to investigations involving him be removed.
Firing the agents without cause violates internal FBI protocols and federal law, and the filing notes that Patel was fully aware of this, even acknowledging at one point that he knew he could be sued.