A fired FBI agent who was said to have threatened FBI Director Kash Patel sued him for pushing him out of the bureau a second time.
Stephen Friend filed his complaint Thursday in federal court in Orlando, Florida. It names Patel in his official role as FBI director.
Friend argues that Patel violated his First Amendment right to free speech by firing him in December over public comments about an FBI investigation.
Patel personally signed the Dec. 12, 2025, letter that fired Friend, the lawsuit says. The letter cited "unprofessional conduct and poor judgment," Fox News reported.
The letter also said Friend "participated in unauthorized interactions with the media, publicly disseminated media sources, and commented publicly on FBI matters and ongoing FBI investigations," according to Fox. It also accused him of sharing photographs in November that identified an alleged suspect in an FBI case "despite the lack of credible, verifiable evidence."
"Patel punished constitutionally protected citizen speech by falsely labeling it 'unprofessional conduct and poor judgment,'" the lawsuit says.
Friend's commentary centered on the FBI's investigation of two pipe bombs found near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the lawsuit.
On Dec. 5, Friend went on a podcast hosted by former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin and suggested that the FBI's arrest of a suspect in the case might be a "put up job," or a setup, the lawsuit says.
"You better pray to Gaia, Vishnu or whatever your maker is that RealSteveFriend is never in a position to be an instrument of God's wrath, because I will be merciful," Friend said, according to the lawsuit. "I'll allow you to breathe every breath that your body will have for the rest of its natural life inside of a box, and then when it ultimately fades to black, that's when the real wrath begins."
Friend did not name Patel, but he suggested that whoever was behind the alleged setup may have been in "executive leadership," and mentioned the Hindu god Vishnu, a likely nod to Patel being raised Hindu, the New York Post reported. Bureau insiders told the paper the remarks helped cost Friend his job.
"This statement, completely divested from its context, was disingenuously and falsely purported to be a 'threat' by Patel," Friend's lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
Friend's first exit from the FBI came under the Biden administration. He was suspended in September 2022 and resigned in February 2023, moves he blames on retaliation for his whistleblowing, the lawsuit says.
In May 2023, Friend told the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government that the FBI had strayed from standard practices on Jan. 6 cases to make violent extremism seem to be on the rise, The Washington Post reported.
He also testified that he had taken $5,000 from a nonprofit run by Patel while on unpaid leave, The Washington Post reported.
"[Patel] reached out to me and said he wanted to give me a donation," Friend told lawmakers, according to The Independent.
The Justice Department agreed in August 2025 to reinstate Friend, according to the lawsuit. He returned to paid duty that September.
He reported to FBI offices on Dec. 8 and 9, days before Patel fired him, the lawsuit says. Because his background check was still incomplete, he stayed under escort, had no gun, computer access or email account, and did no actual work.
Empower Oversight, the nonprofit whose lawyers won Friend's reinstatement, had already dropped him as a client on Dec. 5, the day of the podcast, for ignoring its advice to stop commenting publicly on FBI matters, Fox reported.
"We are no longer willing or able to expend further time and resources representing your interests or providing counsel moving forward," the group wrote.
The lawsuit asks a judge to return Friend to his job at the FBI's Daytona Beach office and award him back pay. It also says he received a $163,674.40 deposit in January with no explanation of what it covered.
