FBI agents involved in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and investigations related to ex-President Donald Trump have taken legal action to halt the Department of Justice (DOJ) from creating lists of agents. These lists are feared to be utilized for retribution purposes by the current DOJ leadership.
The agents, who have chosen to remain anonymous in their lawsuit, have submitted evidence of a three-page survey that DOJ officials plan to use to identify numerous agents connected to these politically charged cases. Their primary concern is that these lists may be made public or used to penalize staff members seen as disloyal.
Expressing their apprehension, the agents highlighted potential unauthorized access to the compiled information. They are also wary of facing consequences like demotion, job opportunity denials, or future promotion setbacks, even if termination is not the immediate threat.
This legal action was initiated in a Washington federal court concurrently with a DOJ ultimatum for the FBI to disclose all personnel involved in the Jan. 6 investigations. The purpose behind this data collection remains ambiguous, but there have already been dismissals of certain prosecutors and FBI leaders who were distrusted by Trump-appointed officials.
The lawsuit, citing breaches of the First Amendment and the federal Privacy Act, requests a prohibition on the DOJ's aggregation and dissemination of FBI personnel's identities linked to the Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago cases.
At the time of reporting, spokespeople for both the Justice Department and the FBI had not provided any comments on the matter.
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