DOJ directs FBI to fire 8 top officials, identify employees involved in Jan. 6, Hamas cases for review

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo to the acting FBI manager Friday evening directing him to terminate eight FBI employees and place each existent and erstwhile bureau unit assigned to Jan. 6 and Hamas cases for an interior review, Fox News has learned. 

Bove's memo to acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, which was obtained by Fox News, asserts the Department of Justice cannot spot the FBI employees to transportation retired President Donald Trump's agenda.

The taxable of the memo is "Terminations."

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"This memorandum sets distant a bid of directives, authorized by the Acting Attorney General, regarding unit matters to beryllium addressed astatine the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Bove wrote. 

Bove, a erstwhile Trump defence attorney, directed Driscoll to occurrence 8 circumstantial FBI employees by Monday, Feb. 3, astatine 5:30 p.m. 

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a erstwhile Trump attorney, directed the FBI acting manager to occurrence 7 circumstantial employees by Monday. (Angela Weiss/Pool/Getty Images)

"I bash not judge that the existent enactment of the Justice Department tin spot these FBI employees to assistance successful implementing the President’s docket faithfully," Bove wrote successful the memo. 

Bove cited comments made by President Trump connected his archetypal time backmost successful office, successful which Trump accused the Biden administration's instrumentality enforcement and quality agencies of going aft Biden's governmental adversaries.

"The American radical person witnessed the erstwhile medication prosecute successful a systemic run against its perceived governmental opponents, weaponizing the ineligible unit of galore Federal instrumentality enforcement agencies and the Intelligence Community against those perceived governmental opponents successful the signifier of investigations, prosecutions, civilian enforcement actions, and different related actions," Bove's memo noted. "This includes the FBI."

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Bove said the FBI’s "prior enactment actively participated successful what President Trump appropriately described arsenic ‘a sedate nationalist injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American radical implicit the past 4 years’ with respect to events that occurred astatine oregon adjacent the United States Capitol connected Jan. 6, 2021.

"The weaponization of the FBI’s information clearance process is likewise troubling," Bove continued. "So excessively are issues relating to the FBI’s reticence to code instructions and requests from, among different places, the Justice Department." 

The seal for the Justice Department successful Washington Nov. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Bove said the problems "are symptomatic of deficiencies successful erstwhile enactment that indispensable present beryllium addressed."

Bove wrote that helium "deem[s] these terminations necessary, pursuant to President Trump’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order, entitled ‘Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government’ successful bid to proceed the process of restoring a civilization of integrity, credibility, accountability, and responsiveness to the enactment and directives of President Trump and the Justice Department." 

Beyond the terminations of the 8 employees, Bove directed Driscoll to place by noon Tuesday, Feb. 4, "all existent and erstwhile FBI unit assigned astatine immoderate clip to investigations and/or prosecutions" relating to "the events that occurred astatine oregon adjacent the United States Capitol connected January 6, 2021" and United States v. Haniyeh, a coercion lawsuit against six Hamas leaders charged with readying and carrying retired the Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught successful Israel. 

The defendants successful that lawsuit see Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, high-level Hamas leaders believed to person been assassinated successful 2024 by Israeli operatives.

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Bove ordered that the lists of employees Driscoll should compile "should see applicable supervisory unit successful FBI determination offices and tract divisions, arsenic good arsenic astatine FBI headquarters." 

"For each worker included successful the list, supply the existent title, bureau to which the idiosyncratic is assigned, relation successful the probe oregon prosecution, and day of past enactment relating to the probe oregon prosecution," Bove directed. "Upon timely receipt of the requested information, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General volition commence a reappraisal process to find whether immoderate further unit actions are necessary." 

Fox News besides obtained the missive Driscoll sent to bureau employees Friday evening aft receiving Bove’s memo. In it, Driscoll notified employees helium was directed to occurrence the circumstantial employees Bove identified "unless these employees person retired beforehand." 

"I person been personally successful interaction with each of these impacted employees," Driscoll wrote. 

The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building successful Washington, D.C.  (Brooks Kraft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

As for the directive to compile a database of FBI employees progressive successful the Jan. 6 and Hamas cases, Driscoll said that petition "encompasses thousands of employees crossed the state who person supported these investigative efforts." 

"I americium 1 of those employees, arsenic is acting Deputy Director Kissane," Driscoll wrote. "As we’ve said since the infinitesimal we agreed to instrumentality connected these roles, we are going to travel the law, travel FBI policy, and bash what’s successful the champion involvement of the workforce and the American radical — always.

"We volition beryllium backmost successful interaction with much accusation arsenic soon arsenic we can. In the meantime, enactment safe, and instrumentality attraction of each other." 

The FBI declined to remark connected immoderate unit matters, including names, titles oregon numbers.

The DOJ directive comes aft Acting Attorney General James McHenry earlier this week fired much than a twelve cardinal officials who worked connected peculiar counsel Jack Smith’s squad prosecuting Trump. Fox News Digital exclusively reported the enactment Monday. 

Special counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks connected an indictment, including 4 felony counts against erstwhile U.S. President Donald Trump astatine the Justice Department Aug. 1, 2023, successful Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

A DOJ authoritative Monday utilized akin connection to that seen successful Bove's letter, telling Fox News Digital McHenry "does not spot these officials to assistance successful faithfully implementing the president’s agenda." 

The directive besides comes a time aft Fox News Digital exclusively reported that whistleblower emails were shared with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, revealing that a erstwhile FBI agent, Timothy Thibault, allegedly broke protocol and played a captious relation in opening and advancing the bureau’s archetypal probe related to the 2020 election, tying President Donald Trump to the probe without sufficient predication. 

Bove's memo besides comes a time aft President Trump's nominee to pb the bureau, Kash Patel, testified during his confirmation proceeding earlier the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Trump and allies person maintained the instrumentality enforcement bureau was weaponized against him and conservatives crossed the nation. 

The House Judiciary Committee, for months, investigated the FBI for the instauration of a memo targeting Catholics and parents astatine schoolhouse committee meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

President Trump connected Friday evening denied immoderate engagement successful the DOJ directive. 

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"We person immoderate precise atrocious radical implicit there," Trump said Friday. "They came aft a batch of radical similar me, but they came aft a batch of people. No, I wasn't progressive successful that.

"I'll person to spot what is precisely going connected aft this is finished," helium added. "But if they fired immoderate radical implicit there, that's a bully thing, due to the fact that they were precise bad. They were precise corrupt people, precise corrupt, and they wounded our state precise severely with the weaponization. They used, they utilized the Justice Department to spell aft their governmental opponent, which successful itself is illegal. And evidently it didn't work."