Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials reportedly provided President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) with information on Tuesday regarding 5,000 employees involved in investigations linked to the storming of Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021.
According to Fox News, the FBI confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the Justice Department had been provided with a list of FBI employees who worked on the January 6 cases under the Biden-Harris administration. The outlet noted that the information was provided to the Justice Department in response to a Tuesday deadline given by the Trump administration’s DOJ.
Sources familiar with the situation told CNN that out of the roughly 13,000 FBI agents and 38,000 FBI employees, the details of over 5,000 personnel were shared with the DOJ.
Fox News reported that FBI employees said a questionnaire was sent to thousands of the agency’s employees asking FBI personnel to disclose any activities they participated in with regard to the January 6 investigations. Employees were asked to answer whether they worked as case agents for various investigations, participated in grand jury subpoenas, or responded to leads from other FBI field offices.
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According to Fox News, the information requested by Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney Emil Bove includes the current titles, former titles, identifying numbers, and investigative roles of “thousands” of employees at the agency.
Fox News reported that the FBI’s questionnaire regarding the January 6 investigations has received backlash from some FBI agents and employees. A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by nine FBI agents and employees on Tuesday stated, “Plaintiffs assert that the specific purpose of this survey is to identify agents and other FBI personnel to be terminated as a form of politically motivated retribution.”
The lawsuit added, “The very act of compiling lists of persons who worked on matters that upset Donald Trump is retaliatory in nature, intended to intimidate FBI agents and other personnel, and to discourage them from reporting any future malfeasance and by Donald Trump and his agents.”
