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Emil Bove exiting the New York State appellate court, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie).
The current acting second in command at the Department of Justice — who until recently was President Donald Trump’s criminal defense attorney — is accusing the acting FBI director of “insubordination” for “refusing to comply” with an order to provide the names of bureau employees who headed up the investigations into the Jan. 6, attack on the Capitol.
In a memo sent Wednesday, interim Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove III said that last week he had asked acting FBI head Brian J. Driscoll and his deputy, Robert C. Kissane “multiple times” to identify the “core team” in Washington, D.C., that was “responsible for the investigation relating to events on January 6, 2021.”
Driscoll and Kissane have steadfastly refused to comply with the demand as multiple class action lawsuits have been filed by current agents who fear that the Trump administration will “purge” the bureau’s ranks of those perceived insufficiently loyal to the president. Even worse, several complaints filed in criminal court allege that the identifying information could be published, allowing the agents to be targeted by any of the roughly 1,500 convicted rioters Trump went on to pardon on his first day in office.
In the memo, Bove said he requested the information so the Justice Department could “conduct a review” of the agents and their conduct in connection with Trump’s executive order seeking to “end the weaponization of the federal government.”
“FBI acting leadership refused to comply,” he wrote in the memo.
According to Bove, that refusal to follow his directive forced him to seek the names of all the agents who worked on investigations into the Capitol riot, which includes about 5,000 of the bureau’s 38,000 agents.
“That insubordination necessitated, among other things, the directive in my January 31, 2025 memo to identify all agents assigned to investigations relating to January 6, 2021,” he wrote.
In one of the several federal lawsuits seeking to block the Justice Department from using or publishing any list of agents who worked on the investigation, the plaintiff agents said they had to fill out a survey questioning them about their work at the bureau.
“What was your/your employee’s title when you/your employee participated in investigation(s) or prosecution(s) of events that occurred at or near the US Capitol on January 6, 2021?” read one of the questions.
“What was your/your employee’s role in the investigation(s) or prosecution(s) relating to events that occurred at or near the US Capitol on January 6, 2021? Select all that apply,” read another.
The agents alleged that the survey was part of a directive issued by Trump instructing the DOJ to “conduct a review and purge” of FBI personnel as rumors of mass firings swirled in Washington. The agents’ fear of reprisal from the administration appears to be well-founded as the Justice Department on Friday terminated all of the prosecutors involved in the federal criminal cases brought against Trump (which were later dropped due to long-standing DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president).
However, Bove sought to disabuse agents fearing retribution for simply carrying out the tasks assigned to them by their superiors.
“Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties,” he wrote. “The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI. There is no honor in the ongoing efforts to distort that simple truth or protect culpable actors from scrutiny on these issues, which have politicized the Bureau, harmed its credibility, and distracted the public from the excellent work being done every day.”
