The US Justice Department reportedly demanded the agency hand over the names of the “core team” that handled the investigations
The FBI has complied with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) demand to hand over the details of over 5,000 employees involved in investigations related to the January 6 riots, CNN reported on Tuesday. In response, FBI agents have sued to protect the identities of the agents involved, due to concerns about persecution.
The January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riots involved thousands of supporters of US President Donald Trump rallying in Washington DC to try to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Five people were killed as a result of the unrest, and some 140 police officers were injured. More than 1,500 people were charged with federal crimes following investigations into the incident. Trump signed two executive orders the first day of his second term, commuting the sentences of 14 people connected to the riots and pardoning all others convicted, as well as ordering to end the “weaponization of the federal government.”
In line with DOJ demands, the FBI handed over the ID numbers, job titles and roles in the January 6 investigations of more than 5,000 employees, but withheld their names, CNN reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove has accused the agency of “insubordination,” for refusing to turn over the agents’ names, according to an internal email seen by a number of media outlets. Bove has repeatedly requested the FBI “identify the core team” involved in the January 6 investigation, Politico wrote on Wednesday, quoting the document.
In light of this, the DOJ passed down a directive to “obtain a complete data set,” which the department can “reliably pare down to the core team that will be the focus of the weaponization review pursuant to the Executive Order,” Bove reportedly wrote. The goal is not to prosecute those “who simply followed orders,” but to find “those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent,” defied FBI leadership or “exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI,” Bove reportedly demanded.
FBI agents anonymously brought two federal cases against the DOJ and acting US Attorney General James McHenry on Tuesday, suing to protect the identities of up to 6,000 employees from potential persecution.
“Plaintiffs reasonably fear” that the information submitted by the agency could be published, “thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution” from people convicted in the January 6 cases, a class-action lawsuit brought by 9 anonymous FBI agents against McHenry states.
“The very act of compiling lists of persons who worked on matters that upset Donald Trump is retaliatory in nature,” the case documents said.
