Editorials & Other Articles

Three former top FBI officials sued FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday, 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.'"

Patel also stated that the firings were retaliatory, according to the lawsuit, which alleges that he told Driscoll that "all FBI employees who they identified who had worked on the cases against President Trump would be removed from their jobs, regardless of their retirement eligibility status.”

According to the lawsuit, Patel — a Trump loyalist and former White House and DOJ official — told Driscoll that he knew such firings violated FBI rules designed to protect agents from being fired or otherwise retaliated against for having worked on specific investigations.

“Patel acknowledged that this would be in direct violation of internal FBI processes," the lawsuit says. "He again commented that he knew the nature of the summary firings were likely illegal and that he could be sued and later deposed."