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(CN) — Three senior officials who worked for the FBI more than 20 years claim they were wrongfully fired in a lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court Wednesday.
Brian Driscoll, Jr., Steven Jensen and Spencer Evans argue the Trump administration and FBI Director Kash Patel initiated a campaign of retribution against them for failing “to demonstrate sufficient political loyalty.”
In their complaint, they say Patel openly acknowledged the unlawfulness of his actions in a conversation with Driscoll last month. Patel reportedly told Driscoll that his superiors had directed him to fire anyone who they identified as having worked on a criminal investigation against President Donald Trump.
Patel supposedly explained that his ability to keep his own job depended on the removal of the agents who worked on cases involving the president, regardless of whether they chose to work on those cases or not. He then added it was because “the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it,” according to Driscoll.
“Patel acknowledged that this would be in direct violation of internal FBI processes meant to adjudicate adverse actions and prevent retaliation based on case assignments,” the agents wrote in the complaint.
“He again commented that he knew the nature of the summary firings were likely illegal and that he could be sued and later deposed,” they added.
Driscoll said all FBI personnel assigned at any time to investigations or prosecutions relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and United States v. Haniyeh , a case charging senior leaders of the terrorist group Hamas, were targeted for terminations.
The agents said the terminations violated their Fifth Amendment rights to due process and their First Amendment rights to free association and speech.
They claim that under federal law and operative FBI policy, Patel had no authority to terminate Driscoll and Jensen from federal service because they were considered “key executives” of the FBI’s Senior Executive Service. That authority is exclusively reserved to the deputy attorney general, they added.
“Patel not only acted unlawfully but deliberately chose to prioritize politicizing the FBI over protecting the American people,” the agents wrote.
His actions also stood in stark contrast to his sworn testimony during his confirmation hearing before the Senate, the agents said. They point to a written response to a Senate questionnaire, where Patel repeatedly emphasized his commitment that “personnel decisions should be based on performance and adherence to the law” and that “every FBI employee will be held to the absolute same standard, and no one will be terminated for case assignments."
Until his termination last month, Driscoll worked as a special agent since December 2007. Since March, Driscoll served as the FBI’s assistant director and was responsible for the Critical Incident Response Group, where he was in charge of all special operations and large-scale crisis response operations both domestically and internationally.
Jensen became an agent in 2006 and is the former assistant director of the Washington Field Office, one of the FBI’s largest offices that serves as a critical hub for federal, state and local law enforcement coordination. In this role, he oversaw approximately 2,000 employees and task force officers executing FBI mission priority investigations ranging from domestic and international terrorism, cyber and counterintelligence, public corruption, white collar crime, transnational organized crime and violent crime within the capital region.
Evans served in the agency since 2004, working as a case agent on countless narcotics, white collar and terrorism investigations. He is also a certified crisis and hostage negotiator.
At the time of his firing, Evans said he was on administrative leave and in the process of transitioning from being the special agent in charge of the Las Vegas Field Office in Nevada to the Huntsville Field Office in Alabama. Like Driscoll and Jensen, he said he had no performance issues or security violations.
Patel is expected to answer questions from lawmakers about his oversight of the FBI before the Senate Judiciary on Sept. 16.
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