Thousands of FBI employees who were involved in investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol are now required to fill out detailed questionnaires regarding their roles in the inquiries. This initiative comes as the Justice Department under the Trump administration contemplates disciplinary measures that could potentially lead to terminations.
According to a source familiar with the situation, the questionnaires urge employees to outline their job functions and positions and to specify how they contributed to the investigations surrounding the events of January 6. This includes detailing whether they were involved in executing search warrants, carrying out interviews, or providing testimony during trials.
This move aligns with an unprecedented decree from the Justice Department issued on Friday, which mandated the submission of the names, job titles, and departments of all FBI staff members who played a role in the investigations connected to the January 6 incidents. During this time, supporters of then-President Trump breached the Capitol, leading to a violent confrontation with law enforcement officers in a concerted effort to impede the certification of the election results.
A memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who defended Trump in his criminal cases before joining the administration, said Justice Department officials would then carry out a “review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”
That’s on top of the forced departures of more than a half-dozen senior FBI executives, the reassignment last month of several key career Justice Department officials, as well as the firings of roughly two dozen employees at the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington who participated in the Jan. 6 investigations.
The scrutiny of career agents is highly unusual given that rank-and-file FBI agents do not select the cases they are assigned to work on, do not historically switch positions or receive any sort of discipline because of their participation in politically sensitive cases and especially because there’s been no evidence any FBI agents or lawyers who investigated or prosecuted the cases engaged in misconduct.
Of the more than 1,500 people who were charged with federal crimes in the Jan. 6 riot, more than 1,000 people pleaded guilty, including more than 200 who admitted to assault. Another roughly 250 people were convicted of crimes by a judge or a jury after a trial.
Some 4,000 agents, analysts and other employees are believed to have been sent the questionnaires, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal communications. The questionnaires were sent on Sunday, with a Monday deadline for completion.
In its own memo to employees, the FBI Agents Association said it was working to gather additional information about the surveys but reassured agents that being a recipient does not in any way indicate misconduct.
“We understand that this feels like agents and employees are being targeted, despite repeated assurances that ‘all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution,’” the memo states. “Employees carrying out their duties to investigate allegations of criminal activity with integrity and within the rule of law should never be treated as those who have engaged in actual misconduct.”
The memo also said that if misconduct allegations were to arise, the “FBI has a long-standing and robust process that aims to provide due process in accordance with policies and law.”
It recommends that employees write on the survey that they have been given no clarity about how their answers are being used and to state that their actions in connection with the Jan. 6 investigations followed federal law, FBI policy and the Constitution.
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