FBI agents investigating Trump allege illegal firing

FBI agents investigating Trump allege illegal dismissal October 16, 2026Nine former FBI employees who participated in investigations into the alleged irregular handling of classified documents by the US president, Donald Trump, sued the agency's director, Kash Patel, and the Attorney General Todd Blanche this Thursday (10/15/2026) to challenge their dismissal in February and seek reinstatement, considering it illegal. The group's lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Washington, alleges that they were fired without just cause for their work on the case related to Trump, and that the dismissals appear to have political motivations. The nine agents and analysts were suddenly fired in February by Patel, a close ally of Trump. In their lawsuit, they allege that the dismissals were acts of "political reprisal" for working on the case of the classified documents, which included, among other things, a search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The document, released by local media, indicates that they were fired while Patel was being criticized by the administration for going to a party with the U.S. Olympic hockey team. The investigation, led by then special attorney Jack Smith, focused on the retention of classified documents by Trump after leaving the White House in January 2021. In August 2022, the FBI searched their Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida and recovered more than a hundred documents with classification markings. Trump was indicted in 2023 for charges related to the possession of those files and attempts to obstruct their recovery, but the case was dismissed in 2024 after a judge determined that Smith had been appointed illegally. Dismissals without internal investigation The plaintiffs maintain that they were fired without internal investigation, prior notice, or an opportunity to appeal the decision, and they also request payment for the wages they lost. "The plaintiffs were illegally fired, not for any legitimate cause or reason, but solely to satisfy the president's personal revenge," the FBI employees argue in their lawsuit filed in a federal court in the US capital. The lawsuit is joined by other appeals filed by former FBI employees who question the legality of the dismissals ordered during Patel's tenure due to their involvement in investigations related to Trump. In February, when the dismissals occurred, Democrats in Congress accused the FBI director of using the dismissals as a distraction from his conduct, after a video was circulated in which he celebrates the US hockey team's gold at the Winter Olympics in Italy, where he traveled for work, while drinking beer and shouting.