The Trump Justice Department is undertaking a massive review of the 5,000 agents who worked on the January 6 investigations and prosecutions, looking for evidence that agents “acted with corrupt or partisan intent."
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove also made clear that the review was not a witch hunt.
“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," wrote Bove, who was part of the legal team defending Trump. “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.”
The list of agents who worked on January 6 cases contained information including "employee ID numbers, but not their names, job titles and their role in the January 6 investigations," sources told CNN.
Bove pointed out that there were larger issues at stake. “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.”
In describing how the memo last week came about, Bove said that he asked FBI leadership “multiple times” to identify a “core team” of bureau employees who had worked on January 6 investigations because the Justice Department wanted to conduct a narrow review of their work.
But, he said, FBI acting leadership refused to comply, and led the Justice Department to request a sweeping set information from all current and former agents or employees who touched Capitol riot investigations.
“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,” Bove says in the email. “In light of acting leadership’s refusal to comply with the narrower request, the written directive was intended to obtain a complete data set that the Justice Department can reliably pare down to the core team that will be the focus of the weaponization review pursuant to the Executive Order.”
Bove wanted the names of the "core team" of agents who drove the January 6 investigations. Brian J. Driscoll and his deputy, Robert C. Kissane, tapped to run the FBI until Trump’s nominee, Kash Patel, is confirmed, refused to turn over any names of the 5,000 agents or the "core team" of agents most intimately involved in the January 6 prosecutions.
The New York Times wonders "why Mr. Bove did not fire the acting leaders of the bureau and why his original request was not in writing."
Acting Deputy AG Bove was unfamiliar with the way that federal agencies operate since this is his first government job. Unless orders that the employee doesn't want to carry out are in writing, he doesn't have to obey them and can't be fired.
Bove should write the orders down and then fire Driscoll and Kissane.
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