"The Trump administration launched a "campaign of retribution" against senior Federal Bureau of Investigation officials who refused to demonstrate loyalty to President Trump, firing them last month for improper political reasons before they could collect early retirement benefits, according to a new lawsuit from three senior FBI agents. The lawsuit describes leaders inside the FBI and Justice Department as both partisan and ineptstruggling to please the White House and willing to dismiss anyone who crossed President Trump."
"At his Senate confirmation hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel promised to protect employees from improper political removal. But once he arrived at the Bureau's headquarters, the lawsuit alleges, Patel deliberately chose to follow directives from the White House rather than federal law. "His decision to do so degraded the country's national security by firing three of the FBI's most experienced operational leaders, each of them experts in preventing terrorism and reducing violent crime," the lawsuit said."
"The three plaintiffs are among the most senior and lauded FBI agents to have worked at the Bureau in recent memory. Brian Driscoll won awards for bravery and valor and led hostage rescue teams before briefly serving as acting FBI director this year. Steven Jensen ran the Washington Field Office and managed some 2,000 employees working on national security and violent crime. Spencer Evans oversaw high-profile investigations including a Tesla cybertruck bombing outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas this year, according to the lawsuit."
Three senior FBI agents filed a lawsuit alleging they were fired last month for improper political reasons and deprived of early retirement benefits. The complaint portrays FBI and Justice Department leaders as partisan and inept, eager to please the White House and remove employees who crossed the president. FBI Director Kash Patel is accused of abandoning legal protections and following White House directives, a choice said to have degraded national security by eliminating experienced operational leaders skilled in counterterrorism and reducing violent crime. The plaintiffs include decorated operational leaders Brian Driscoll, Steven Jensen, and Spencer Evans, who assert violations of the Fifth and First Amendments.
Read at www.npr.org
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