WASHINGTON, USA — The Trump administration has directed the FBI to provide the Justice Department with a list of all employees who worked on investigations related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and other Trump-related cases, a move that could result in widespread dismissals within federal law enforcement.
In an internal email sent Friday, January 31, 2025, acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll instructed bureau leaders to submit the names by Tuesday.
The directive, which includes current and former employees, is part of an ongoing review by the Justice Department to determine whether “additional personnel actions are necessary.”
“This request encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts,” Driscoll wrote in the email obtained by CNN.
“That includes myself and the acting deputy director.”
The Justice Department has also sought information on FBI personnel involved in a separate case brought against members of Hamas following the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel.
The memo signals an escalation of President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal law enforcement apparatus, which he has repeatedly accused of being “weaponized” against him.
Trump has long claimed that the FBI and Justice Department unfairly targeted him, including in their court-approved search of his Mar-a-Lago estate and in prosecutions of Capitol rioters.
The FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment on the directive.
FBI Personnel Brace for Mass Terminations
Driscoll’s email included an attachment from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove titled “Termination,” outlining the administration’s intent.
“For each employee included in the lists, provide the current title, office to which the person is assigned, role in the investigation or prosecution, and date of last activity relating to the investigation or prosecution,” Bove wrote.
The memo cited the removal of senior FBI officials as part of a broader effort to address what the administration described as “a grave national injustice” relating to January 6 prosecutions.
“This is a massacre meant to chill our efforts to fight crime without fear or favor,” said one FBI agent. “Even for those not fired, it sends the message that the bureau is no longer independent.”
Another employee noted the scale of the January 6 investigation, which became the largest case in FBI history, involving more than a thousand defendants nationwide.
“Everyone touched this case,” the employee said.
Federal Prosecutors Also Dismissed
In addition to the FBI personnel review, the Justice Department fired more than a dozen federal prosecutors involved in January 6 cases, according to internal communications.
The dismissed prosecutors had been working temporarily in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., with their roles set to become permanent at the end of the Biden administration.
However, Bove wrote in a separate memo that these conversions had “improperly hindered” the ability of acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin to “faithfully implement the agenda that the American people elected President Trump to execute.”
“I will not tolerate subversive personnel actions by the previous administration at any U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Bove added.
The Justice Department also reassigned several senior career lawyers to a task force focused on immigration and so-called sanctuary cities, a move widely seen as an effort to push them out. Some have already resigned.
FBI Agents Association Warns of Fallout
The FBI Agents Association met with Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for FBI director, to raise concerns about potential firings, urging him to protect agents who conducted investigations under judicial oversight.
“During our meeting, he said that agents would be afforded appropriate process and review and not face retribution based solely on the cases to which they were assigned,” the association said in a statement.
The group warned that dismissing hundreds of agents would “severely weaken the Bureau’s ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately risk setting up the Bureau and its new leadership for failure.”
During Patel’s Senate confirmation hearing, Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, pressed him on whether he was aware of plans to remove agents involved in Trump-related cases.
“I am not aware of that, senator,” Patel responded.
The administration’s actions come as Trump continues to overhaul the Justice Department, replacing officials with allies and aggressively pursuing personnel changes in federal law enforcement agencies.
The full impact of the review remains unclear, but it marks one of the most extensive efforts yet to reshape the Justice Department under Trump’s second term.
