The FBI has fired several more agents and supervisors involved in investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to multiple Associated Press sources familiar with the matter. The latest wave of terminations marks an ongoing internal purge under Director Kash Patel, who has faced mounting accusations of politicizing the bureau.
The employees were initially notified of their dismissals earlier this week, but the decision was briefly reversed after D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro raised concerns about the firings, sources said. That pause proved temporary, on Tuesday, the agents were again terminated. It remains unclear how many agents were affected or what prompted the reinstatement and subsequent firings.
Since his appointment, Patel has been accused of removing officials linked to investigations that have angered the Trump administration, including the Jan. 6 and classified documents probes. Three senior officials ousted earlier this year filed a lawsuit against Patel, alleging he launched a “campaign of retribution” under political pressure.
The FBI Agents Association condemned the director’s handling of the situation, saying the rapid-fire firings demonstrated “the chaos that occurs when long-standing policies and processes are ignored.” The group added that “an agent simply being assigned to an investigation and conducting it appropriately within the law should never be grounds for termination.”
The 2020 election investigation, led by special counsel Jack Smith and culminating in former President Donald Trump’s indictment, remains a lightning rod in Washington. Republican lawmakers, including Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, have accused the Justice Department of weaponizing its authority against conservatives.
Grassley’s office has publicly released internal FBI documents showing that investigators examined phone records of at least six Republican senators as part of the Jan. 6 probe. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has also dismissed multiple prosecutors and staffers linked to Smith’s team, further deepening the turmoil inside federal law enforcement agencies.
The FBI’s internal shakeups have grown increasingly public. In August, Patel dismissed the head of the bureau’s Washington field office and a former acting director who had resisted Trump administration demands to identify agents involved in Capitol riot investigations. In September, several agents were terminated for being photographed kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest in Washington following the killing of George Floyd.
With morale reportedly deteriorating, the latest terminations add to the perception that the FBI’s leadership is purging its own ranks to appease political allies — a move current and former agents warn threatens the bureau’s independence and credibility.
