FBI firing senior officials at odds with Trump administration

By Evan Perez, Katelyn Polantz, Holmes Lybrand, CNN

(CNN) — Two senior FBI officials, including one who initially resisted the Trump administration’s effort to gather the names of agents who worked on cases related to the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, are being fired, multiple sources tell CNN.

Brian Driscoll, who was acting FBI director in the weeks before now-Director Kash Patel was confirmed, is being dismissed, sources said. Steve Jensen, the acting director in charge of the Washington Field Office, is also being fired, according to two separate sources.

The administration is also firing other agents in the bureau this week who were perceived to be opposed to Trump in the past, according to three sources familiar with the agency’s actions.

The FBI and its Washington field office declined to comment. CNN has reached out to the New York field office for comment.

In the first weeks of the second Trump administration, at least six senior officials at the executive assistant director level or special agent in charge level – including those who oversee cyber, national security and criminal investigations – were ordered to retire, resign or be fired.

Among the issues that caused discord with top officials in the FBI was Driscoll not disciplining an FBI pilot for Patel after it was discovered he was involved in issuing a subpoena in the Mar-a-Lago investigation into Trump and associates, according to a person familiar with the incident.

Earlier this year, a plan to quickly fire more than 100 mid-level and senior employees blew up into a weeklong standoff between then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and Driscoll and sparked internal protest against the move inside the agency.

The rebellion prompted Trump to appoint a loyalist podcaster Dan Bongino as deputy director of the FBI. Bongino recently considered resigning from the post following the administration’s handling of documents and information relating to Jeffrey Epstein.

The demand earlier this year for thousands of names of FBI agents involved in the January 6 cases came from Bove, who said in a memo at the time that the list of names would be reviewed for any firing or “personnel actions,” according to the memo.

“The FBI — including the Bureau’s prior leadership — actively participated in what President Trump appropriately described as ‘a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated on the American people over the last four years’ with respect to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Bove said at the time.

“This request,” Driscoll wrote to all bureau personnel following Bove’s memo, “encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts.”

Both Driscoll and Jensen had been with the FBI for nearly 20 years and served in various roles, including in leadership roles across the country. In 2020, Jensen served as the section chief of the Domestic Terrorism Operations Section at FBI Headquarters in Washington. Driscoll – who has been awarded the FBI Medal of Valor and the FBI Shield of Bravery for actions under fire – also served as the commander of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team and special agent in charge of the Newark Field Office.

Jensen was originally listed among those attending a Justice Department press conference Thursday on the indictment of the alleged shooter of two Israeli embassy staff members earlier this year.

He was not present, and US Attorney Jeanine Pirro declined to address questions about his departure.

“I’m not going to talk about politics today. I’m talking about crime. I’m talking about hate crimes, and that’s the extent of it,” she said.

CNN’s Kara Scannell and Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

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