WASHINGTON — Three former top FBI officials have sued FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying their firings were mandated by the White House and Department of Justice and that Patel followed their orders to keep his job.
Patel, the suit claimed, “explained he had to fire the people his superiors told him to fire, because his ability to keep his own job depended on the removal of the agents who worked on cases involving the President. Patel explained that there was nothing he or Driscoll could do to stop these or any other firings, because ‘the FBI tried to put the President in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.’”
The lawsuit was filed by former FBI acting Director Brian Driscoll; Steven Jensen, former assistant director in charge of the Washington field office; and Spencer Evans, former special agent in charge of the Las Vegas field office. News of the lawsuit was first reported by NPR and MSNBC.
This lawsuit comes a month after NBC News reported that Driscoll, who briefly served as acting director at the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, was fired. Driscoll made headlines when he resisted a Justice Department directive to turn over a list of agents who had worked on Jan. 6 cases.
“This request encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts,” Driscoll wrote in a memo to FBI employees at the time. “I am one of those employees.”
Driscoll, Jensen and Evans want a federal judge to declare their termination from the FBI “a legal nullity,” want a “name-clearing hearing,” and want their jobs back.
The FBI declined to comment on the suit. A representative for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The post Former top FBI officials sue, say Kash Patel fired them to stay in Trump’s good graces appeared first on NBC News.
