Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LITIGATION NEWS, TRENDS—Lawsuit alleges FBI officials were terminated for participating in Trump investigations, (Sep 12, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Executive Office of the President | Federal Bureau of Investigation
By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.
The complaint alleges FBI Director Patel admitted he knew the firings were political in nature.
Three terminated special agents and senior officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against FBI Director Kashyap Patel, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Executive Office of the President, and other Trump administration defendants. The plaintiffs alleged the defendants violated the plaintiffs’ First and Fifth Amendment rights by firing them for failure to demonstrate sufficient political loyalty.
Summary firings. The plaintiffs are Brian J. Driscoll, Jr., former assistant director responsible for the Critical Incident Response Group; Steven J. Jensen, former assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office; and Spencer L. Evans, former special agent in charge of the Las Vegas Field Office. On August 8, 2025, Patel terminated the plaintiffs “with cursory, single-page letters sent to each Plaintiff,” the complaint alleges. Patel’s decision to terminate the three plaintiffs “degraded the country’s national security by firing three of the FBI’s most experienced operational leaders, each of them experts in preventing terrorism and reducing violent crime,” the complaint alleges.
Admission of political motivation. On or about August 5, 2025, in a conversation with Driscoll, Patel has openly acknowledged the unlawfulness of his actions, according to the complaint. It alleges that Patel admitted his superiors, referred to as “they” and understood by Driscoll to include the DOJ and the White House, “had directed him to fire anyone who they identified as having worked on a criminal investigation against President Donald J. Trump.” He explained he had to fire the people his superiors told him to fire and that his ability to keep his own job depended on these firings, as “the FBI tried to put the President in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it,” the complaint alleges. Driscoll explained that firing employees based on case assignments would be in direct violation of internal FBI processes meant to prevent retaliation; Patel said he understood that and knew the nature of the summary firings were likely illegal, according to the complaint.
Relief requested. The plaintiffs seek a declaration that the terminations were a legal nullity and that the terminations violated their Fifth and First Amendment rights, as well as an order requiring the defendants to immediately reinstate the plaintiffs and enjoin the defendants from taking any further adverse personnel action against each of them without providing appropriate procedural and substantive due process.
The case is No. 1:25-cv-03109.
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