It’s a bit “Godzilla vs. Kong,” with a dash of “The Untouchables” thrown in. The Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association (FBIAA) is suing the Department of Justice (DOJ), asserting unlawful retaliation, Privacy Act and Administrative Procedures Act violations, as well as First Amendment and due process violations. And it all stems from January 6, 2021.
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A group of nine FBI agents filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block the public identification of any FBI employees who worked on the Jan. 6 investigations into the U.S. Capitol riots, in an attempt to head off what they described as potentially retaliatory efforts against personnel involved in the probe.
The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit anonymously in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said that any effort to review or discriminate against FBI employees involved in the Jan. 6 investigations would be “unlawful and retaliatory,” and a violation of civil service protections under federal law.
The lawsuit cited the questionnaire employees were required to fill out detailing their specific role in the Jan. 6 investigation and Mar-a-Lago investigation led by former special counsel Jack Smith.
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The complaint, which may be viewed in full below, relitigates the events of January 6, 2021, as background — just in case the judges of the D.C. Circuit, who oversaw all of the J6 prosecutions and have not shown any predisposition to skepticism of said prosecutions, aren’t already familiar with the context. It then goes on to assert that President Donald Trump, since his inauguration, has repeatedly been critical of the FBI and characterized it as being weaponized.
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Moreover, the complaint asserts, since being pardoned by Trump, “leaders of the January 6 riot and others have tagged FBI agents who worked on the investigation and prosecutions of those rioters.” The complaint notes that “Violent threats against FBI agents who have carried out lawful orders in relation to January 6th or subsequent investigations have been a consistent problem for the FBI for years.”
The plaintiffs further assert (citing “credible press reports”) that they anticipate a “mass, unlawful termination of Bureau employees who had any involvement in certain investigations related to President Trump, including Jan. 6 cases, and the lawful search of President Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago.” They reference a questionnaire directed to certain FBI agents regarding their work related to J6.
Ultimately, plaintiffs assert that they believe Defendants “intend to publicly disseminate the names of those employees who responded to this survey, and/or those employees who the Defendants plan to demote, transfer and/or terminate based on this survey, and/or publicly disseminate employees’ responses to the survey questions outlined above.”
They request that the court enter an order prohibiting the DOJ and the federal government from disseminating their personal information and rescind what they refer to as “unlawful termination orders.”
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The plaintiffs are represented by Mark Zaid and Bradley Moss. Zaid, whose current clientele “includes dozens of current and former government officials” who have been critics of Trump, and Moss, also a “national security attorney” who’s spoken out frequently against Trump, have teamed with Norm Eisen of the “State Democracy Defenders Fund” to bring the suit.
Given their venue, one suspects the court will be predisposed to grant the relief requested, at least as to prohibiting the public dissemination of their identities and personal information.
RedState will continue to monitor the litigation and provide updates as they become available.
FBI Suit – Dc- 2-4-25 by Susie Moore
