FBI Director Kash Patel’s yapping may have implicated Donald Trump in another legal fiasco.
A lawsuit brought by three senior FBI agents—Brian Driscoll, Steven Jensen, and Spencer Evans—accuses Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the agencies they head of wrongfully firing the men.
Driscoll argued that he was fired after he attempted to halt the firing of another FBI employee, Christopher Meyer, who was ordered to pilot Patel’s flights to Las Vegas but had also been falsely accused of signing off on the agency’s 2022 raid of Mar-a-Lago.
Driscoll served as acting FBI director at the start of the year—by accident. Robert Kissane was supposed to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray in January, but a clerical error instead placed Driscoll at the top of the FBI. Kissane then acted as Driscoll’s number two—an oversight that wasn’t corrected until the Senate confirmed Patel at the end of February. Driscoll notably refused orders from the White House to expose the bureau staff who were involved in the January 6 probe, earning him the adoration of his colleagues, who nicknamed the 45-year-old “Saint Driz.”
The legal complaint torches Patel’s leadership at the agency from the perspective of the senior agents, accusing the FBI leader of punishing the trio because they attempted to treat other subordinates, such as Meyer, with respect. But the suit also claims that Patel was fully aware of the illegality of his actions as he worked to force them and their peers out the door.
“When Driscoll explained that firing employees based on case assignments would be in direct violation of internal FBI processes meant to adjudicate adverse actions and prevent retaliation based on case assignments, Patel said that he understood that and he knew the nature of the summary firings were likely illegal and that he could be sued and later deposed,” the complaint reads.
Beyond blatantly violating the law, the statement also stood in direct contrast to what Patel had promised Congress during his confirmation process weeks earlier, when he swore to Senator Richard Blumenthal that all FBI employees would “be protected against political retribution.”
But the phrasing of Patel’s rebuke also implicated Trump, explicitly pointing to the Justice Department and the White House as the origin of the command.
“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,’” according to the legal filing.
National security journalists were quick to note that Patel’s loose lips might have made it easier for the ex-FBI agents to achieve an incredible feat: getting a U.S. president to sit for a deposition.
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