1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I’m writing to express my concern over the unfair and likely illegal actions being forced upon the FBI by the DOJ because of the Trump administration. 

On Friday, January 31, the Acting Deputy Attorney General at the Department Of Justice (DOJ) instructed the Acting FBI Director to terminate the FBI’s entire Executive Associate Director (EAD) senior leadership team and the Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office. No reason was provided for their terminations, nor were they afforded any requisite due process.

As reported in the above New York Times and subsequent articles, DOJ then instructed FBI headquarters to send a questionnaire to line-level employees, asking them to describe their role, if any, in investigating and prosecuting January 6th rioters. This survey will produce a list of employees. This implied threat negatively impacts targeted employees, but also those watching their colleagues be potentially purged from the FBI ranks for lawful investigations predicated by prosecutorial merit and resulting in federal charges and convictions.

We should all be concerned about the chilling effect the creation of this list will have on staff morale and their ability, in the future, to execute their lawful duties without fear of retribution.

I want to express my support for FBI employees and their families. It's inconceivable to me that anyone would believe firings among the rank and file, based on the lawful investigations they conducted, is a good thing for the FBI.