Nine FBI Employees Say They Were Fired for Doing Their Jobs Investigating Trump, Sue for Reinstatement and Back Pay

Nine former FBI employees who worked on the investigation into President Donald Trump's retention of classified documents are suing for reinstatement and back pay, alleging their dismissals were acts of political retaliation.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on 15 October 2026, accuses FBI Director Kash Patel and other administration officials of unlawfully targeting agents, intelligence analysts, and staff operations specialists because of their assigned duties.

The nine employees were dismissed on 25 and 26 February 2026. According to the lawsuit, they were terminated without an internal investigation or disciplinary process and were given no notice, hearing, or opportunity to appeal.

Former Employees Deny Politically Weaponising the FBI

Patel has accused dismissed FBI personnel of having 'weaponised' the bureau and said terminations follow internal investigations that uncover inappropriate conduct. The plaintiffs dispute that characterisation, arguing their work was driven by evidence and law enforcement responsibilities rather than political loyalties.

The nine former FBI employees say their collective experience includes work related to the Boston Marathon bombing, hostage recoveries, and the investigation into the 2024 assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Their attorneys, Margaret Donovan, Abbe Lowell, and Rebecca Tinio, said the former employees were punished for performing their duties impartially. 'In return for their service, they were fired because they did their jobs, as they always did, to follow the facts and law without bias or favour,' their statement said. The lawsuit argues that their dismissals have caused an 'immeasurable loss' to 'America's national security'.

Mar-a-Lago Investigation Led to Criminal Charges

The former FBI employees were assigned to the classified documents investigation, known by the FBI code name 'Plasmic Echo', through their work on counterintelligence and counterespionage squads, according to the complaint. The investigation examined allegations that Trump retained classified records after leaving the White House, stored them at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and obstructed efforts to recover them.

In August 2022, the FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and recovered classified records. A federal indictment followed in 2023, charging Trump with dozens of felony counts.

Trump denied wrongdoing. In July 2024, US District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the federal indictment against him in the classified documents case, ruling that special counsel Jack Smith's appointment violated the Constitution's Appointments Clause. The Justice Department subsequently abandoned its appeal in January 2025, after Trump won the 2024 presidential election. The case ended without a trial, and the dismissal did not resolve the merits of the allegations against Trump.

The former employees argue that their involvement in the investigation did not establish political bias or misconduct. The complaint states that the defendants 'incorrectly presumed to know the personal political convictions of Plaintiffs and took unlawful action based on that presumption.' It further alleges that they wrongly concluded those beliefs 'affected or drove their work.'

Lawsuit Alleges a Wider Campaign of Retaliation

The plaintiffs argue their dismissals were part of a broader campaign against FBI and Justice Department personnel involved in investigations concerning Trump. Before becoming FBI director, Patel had publicly criticised the Mar-a-Lago search, calling it 'unlawful' and describing participating agents as 'corrupt government gangsters', according to the lawsuit.

Days after Trump returned to office in January 2025, a senior Justice Department official demanded a list of FBI employees who had investigated the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot. Then-director Brian Driscoll resisted the demand, which employees viewed as a possible precursor to mass dismissals, the complaint says. The lawsuit also points to other dismissals involving personnel connected to Trump-related investigations and disputed FBI assessments.

The complaint also suggests the February 2026 dismissals may have been intended to divert attention from negative publicity Patel faced after attending the Winter Olympics in Milan, where he was seen celebrating with the US men's hockey team following its gold-medal victory. This is the plaintiffs' allegation about the possible motive for the dismissals and has not been established as fact.

'The Plaintiffs were unlawfully terminated not for any cause or any legitimate reason, but only to satisfy the President's personal vendetta,' the complaint states. The allegations have yet to be established in court.