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FBI agents are suing the Trump administration to prevent it from publicly naming staff involved in a probe into the January 6 Capitol attack in 2021 amid an intensifying crackdown against the president’s perceived enemies.
In separate lawsuits filed on Tuesday, two anonymous groups of FBI agents and employees accused the Department of Justice of illegal retaliation against those involved in investigating the storming of the US Capitol.
They allege that a justice department move to identify those involved in the probes would put them and their families in danger from the rioters and called on the court to block any public identification.
“It is clear that the threatened disclosure is a prelude to an unlawful purge of the FBI driven solely by the Trump administration’s vengeful and political motivations,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney in one of the lawsuits.
The dual cases mark the most serious legal effort yet to resist Trump’s drive to seek revenge against the “deep state” elements and government employees he views as having wronged him.
Retribution was a crucial element of Trump’s campaign rhetoric. He vowed in November that “those involved in unscrupulous behaviour will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our country”.
One of the lawsuits was filed by seven anonymous FBI employees and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association, a representative body, seeking a restraining order against the justice department.
The other, a class-action lawsuit, was filed by the Center for Employment Justice, on behalf of nine anonymous employees involved in probes into either the January 6 riots or the alleged mishandling of classified information by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving office.
The lawsuits were filed in a Washington, DC district court hours ahead of a deadline, set by acting deputy attorney-general Emil Bove, for the FBI to provide a list of employees involved in investigating the events of January 6.
Both allege that FBI staff were asked to fill out a survey in the past few days identifying their specific role in the Capitol and Mar-a-Lago probes. The plaintiffs believe the survey was designed to “identify agents to be terminated or to suffer other adverse employment action”.
“Plaintiffs reasonably fear that all or parts of this list might be published by allies of President Trump, thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution by the now pardoned and at-large Jan 6 convicted felons,” wrote Pamela Keith and Scott Lempert, lawyers for the CEJ.
Trump pardoned about 1,500 people involved in the storming of the Capitol on his return to office, describing their prosecution as “a grave national injustice”.
The justice department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FBI said it was “standard practice to decline to comment on litigation”.
Keith, representing the FBI employees, told the Financial Times that the group were “apolitical” and “dedicated” civil servants.
“It is simply inconceivable to us that they would risk their employment by simply executing their duties, which is the scenario that is being set up by the White House,” she said.
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