A federal judge Friday stopped the Justice Department from publicly listing FBI officials involved in cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
The halt was only temporary.
The DOJ came to this agreement in a pair of cases brought forth by FBI agents who said the public release of their identities was retaliation by the Trump administration and would put them and their families in danger.
The order, which came from Judge Jia M. Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, restricts Justice from publicly circulating the list before the court decides whether to issue a preliminary injunction in the case after a hearing scheduled for March 27.
The judge ordered the government to give him and FBI personnel two days’ notice if the administration plans to release the list.
The FBI agents filed the lawsuits after the Justice Department ordered FBI staff to fill out a survey about their role in the Jan. 6 investigations and prosecutions.
In one lawsuit, nine FBI agents said that a mandatory survey sent to agents “is to identify agents and other FBI personnel to be terminated as a form of politically motivated retribution.” The suit was filed in D.C.’s federal district court.
“Plaintiffs assert that the purpose for this list is to identify agents to be terminated or to suffer other adverse employment action,” the complaint said. “Plaintiffs reasonably fear that all or parts of this list might be published by allies of President Trump, thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution by the now pardoned and at-large Jan. 6 convicted felons.”
The agents said they were told that they were “likely to be terminated in the very near future” for their work on the Jan. 6 and raid on President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, the lawsuit said.
The second suit includes seven unidentified FBI agents and the FBI Agents Association as plaintiffs, who are represented by lawyers Mark Zaid and Norman Eisen.
It calls on the court for “protection” from the Justice Department’s “anticipated retaliatory decision to expose their personal information for opprobrium and potential vigilante action by those who they were investigating.”
Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll refused to release the names to acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, which caused an open rebellion among senior FBI officials in support of Mr. Driscoll.
In response, Mr. Bove wrote a memo that advised FBI personnel that “no FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties.”
“The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI,” the memo said.
President Trump told reporters Friday he wants to see some FBI agents fired.
“I’ll fire some of them, because some of them were corrupt,” Mr. Trump said during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. “It will be done quickly, and very surgically.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.