Three former senior FBI officials filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging FBI Director Kash Patel dismissed them to satisfy political pressure from President Donald Trump and to protect his own position.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., names Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the FBI, the Justice Department and the Executive Office of the President. Plaintiffs Brian Driscoll, Steve Jensen and Spencer Evans seek reinstatement, back pay, a court order declaring the terminations unlawful and a forum to clear their names.
The complaint contends the officials were removed last month as part of a purge of employees who had been involved in cases concerning the president. It alleges Patel carried out a "campaign of retribution" after taking the bureau's top job and that the White House and Justice Department demanded the removals. The filing says Patel told Driscoll that "the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn't forgotten it."
Driscoll, a former commander of the FBI's specialized hostage rescue team who served as acting director following Christopher Wray's January resignation and before Patel's February confirmation, is described in the suit as a senior supervisor who resisted what he viewed as unlawful orders. The complaint recounts a dispute in which Driscoll resisted a demand from a senior Justice Department official for a list of agents who worked on January 6, 2021, investigations. After Patel's confirmation, Driscoll oversaw the Critical Incident Response Group. The suit alleges Driscoll refused to remove a pilot from flying duties after the pilot was wrongly identified on social media as an agent on a classified-materials case; the pilot was later fired and is not a plaintiff.
Jensen, who was promoted in 2020 to lead the Domestic Terrorism Operations Section of the Counterterrorism Division and whose section assumed responsibility for investigations tied to the Jan. 6 attack, is described as having been the subject of internal pressure because of his role coordinating those investigations. The filing says Jensen was told by Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino that FBI leadership was spending "a lot of political capital" to retain him in the position.
Evans, a senior official in the FBI's Human Resources Division during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, believes he was targeted because he reviewed accommodation requests from employees seeking exemptions from vaccine mandates, the suit states.
The complaint quotes an exchange in which Patel allegedly told Driscoll that firing agents for case assignments was "likely illegal," but that "his ability to keep his own job depended on the removal of the agents who worked on cases involving the President." The plaintiffs allege the public statements by Patel accusing bureau employees of "weaponizing" the FBI were false and defamatory and harmed their reputations and future employment prospects.
A spokesman for the FBI declined to comment when reached by the Daily Mail. In a television interview two weeks after the firings, Patel told Fox News that "every single person" who had weaponized the FBI against Trump had been removed from leadership positions. The lawsuit asserts there is no evidence the three plaintiffs engaged in such conduct.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said the case shows the bureau's personnel decisions are being driven by political orders rather than law enforcement needs. Abbe Lowell, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit proves FBI leadership is "carrying out political orders to punish law enforcement agents for doing their jobs." Chris Mattei, another attorney for the plaintiffs, said the firings deprived the FBI of experienced leaders and operational competence.
The complaint frames the terminations as part of a broader pattern of personnel moves since Patel assumed leadership. It identifies at least five known dismissals last month of agents who had been involved in investigations touching on the president. The three plaintiffs contend their roles included supervising complex FBI investigations, including international terrorism matters, and that their removals jeopardize bureau operations and public safety.
The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, restoration to the plaintiffs' prior positions, back pay and other damages. It asks the court to provide a forum where the plaintiffs can rebut public allegations and clear their names.
The filing adds to a series of legal and political confrontations surrounding the FBI and the Department of Justice as the agency undergoes leadership changes. The lawsuit provides specific allegations and contemporaneous statements that the plaintiffs say show decisions were made to satisfy political actors; it calls for a court determination on the legality of the firings and on whether the removals were constitutionally and statutorily improper.
The case is likely to draw scrutiny from congressional overseers and could prompt additional litigation or administrative proceedings. For now, the three former officials are pursuing reinstatement through the federal courts while their allegations of politically motivated dismissals remain contested.