Trump’s FBI Purge Puts Vengeance Above the Law

The president seeks to hollow out critical agencies and reward unqualified loyalists–like Kash Patel

In the waning hours of January, at the close of the second week of President Trump’s second term, and four years and 26 days after the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, news broke that the Trump administration had fired top prosecutors at the Department of Justice who worked on January 6 cases. There is reporting that the DOJ under Trump is also preparing to fire FBI agents in D.C. and elsewhere who investigated the conspiracy and offenders who stormed the Capitol. NBC News estimates that 75% of the Bureau, from top officials down to local field agents, have some connection to January 6 cases.

This is yet another step toward President Trump’s ultimate goal of retribution against his perceived political enemies—no matter the cost to the rule of law.

To disrupt the Federal Bureau of Investigation is to put all of us in danger. Agents who would otherwise be focused on stopping violent crime and protecting their local communities will now be forced to worry about being penalized for merely doing their jobs. Instead of investigating domestic terrorism, stopping school shootings before they happen, or pursuing cases related to kidnapping or child sexual abuse, FBI agents will have to divert focus to proving loyalty to Trump above our country’s laws and the Constitution.

This eventuality contrasts sharply with the picture painted by Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to run the FBI, at his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. He repeatedly emphasized the importance of empowering local law enforcement to be able to do their job, lamenting the perceived overreaches of the Bureau during previous administrations. We do not disagree that it is important that local law enforcement should be able to focus on protecting the communities they serve without fear of political retribution.

However, Patel’s years of eager capitulation to Donald Trump, as well as his public statements and responses to questioning during his hearing exposed that we cannot trust him to lead the FBI honestly and fairly. Patel lacks experience serving as a senior law enforcement official and has never held a Senate-confirmed position. Former Trump administration officials like Bill Barr and John Bolton have said repeatedly Patel is unfit to lead the FBI, with at least one describing him as “profoundly unqualified.”

Seemingly the only people who disagree about Patel’s utter lack of qualifications to serve as the director of the Bureau tasked with keeping Americans safe and upholding the Constitution are those who share Patel’s unwavering loyalty to Trump. This is the number one qualification for working for the executive branch right now.

Trump and his allies have made it abundantly clear that they want to reshape the federal government in his image. These FBI firings will make our communities more unsafe—while undermining the crucial work the Bureau undertakes every day.

Patel has even said the quiet part out loud, claiming that he would use the FBI as a tool for going after Trump’s perceived enemies, even publishing a list of names in his book of people he believes to be a part of the so-called “deep state.” No disavowals of this list now can undo what we he chose to have published and printed. He has made it clear that he intends to serve Trump’s interests and enact revenge against those “enemies” who he (or Trump) believes committed offenses against the president and his allies, or even just offended them.

The fact that Patel has limited qualifications to serve as FBI Director other than his willingness to be a tool for vengeance for Trump should be completely disqualifying for any Senator who claims to care about the rule of law and the Constitution. But the reporting on FBI agents clearing out their desks in local offices around the country should cause any Senator to seriously reconsider if this is how we want our nation’s federal law enforcement to be run.

Are we going to sit by and watch while critical law enforcement bureaus are hollowed out? Will we allow agencies to be reshaped out of vengeance and law enforcement officers to be punished for attempting to hold a convicted criminal—Trump—to account?

During Trump’s first term, Republicans both in and out of office were able to stand up to him in the face of his endless calls for impunity. Now, the Senate Judiciary Committee should launch an investigation into the purge underway at the Department of Justice and should reject Kash Patel’s nomination to lead the FBI. It is not altogether challenging to understand what is happening at the DOJ and FBI—and if we don’t do everything possible to cease this continued abuse of power against those who are meant to protect us, we will be left entirely vulnerable to the whims of a pack of corrupt and unhinged individuals.

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Lisa Gilbert is the Co-President of Public Citizen.