FBI agents sue to protect identities of those who worked on Jan. 6 investigation
WASHINGTON – FBI agents are suing to stop the Justice Department from releasing the names of employees with any involvement in past investigations connected to President Donald Trump for fear of public retaliation.
Two separate suits were filed Tuesday, the same day FBI leadership gave the Justice Department a list of employees who had worked on investigations of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and Trump's retention of classified documents while he was out of office.
The list did not contain names, according to Reuters. Instead, workers were identified by their "unique employee identifier" as well as "their title at the time of the relevant investigation or prosecution, the office to which they are currently assigned, their role in the relevant investigation or prosecution and the date of last activity related to the investigation or prosecution."
In a class action suit filed on Tuesday, a group of agents and other FBI employees say the information will be used to retaliate against them through firings or other actions.
They also said the information could be publicized by Trump’s allies, putting themselves and their family members in immediate danger of retribution from those convicted in the Jan. 6 attack who have been pardoned by Trump and released from prison.
"Releasing the names of these agents would ignite a firestorm of harassment towards them and their families and it must be stopped immediately," said Chris Mattei, an attorney for the agents.
The employees, who said they intend to represent at least 6,000 current and former FBI workers who participated in some way in the past investigations and prosecutions, asked a federal court to block the Justice Department from acting.
A second suit was filed by a democracy watchdog group and legal advocates on behalf of former and current FBI and Justice Department employees.
A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has already fired more than a dozen prosecutors who pursued criminal charges against Trump.
The agents, who are not identified in the suit, said they were instructed this week to fill out a survey to identify their specific role in the past investigations. Others were told their supervisors would be filling them out.
They said the gathering and use of the information violates their First Amendment and due process rights.
(This article has been updated to include new information.)