WASHINGTON — FBI agents who worked on the investigations into President Donald Trump or the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block the release of a list of names they say could be used to retaliate against them.
The agents, identified by pseudonym as “John and Jane Does 1-9,” say since returning to power Trump has ordered the Justice Department to conduct a “review and purge of FBI personnel” who worked on Capitol riot cases or either of the investigations into himself. As part of that purge, they say, over the weekend they were given a survey to fill out that would identify their specific roles in those cases.
According to the lawsuit, the agents were told that the information in the survey would then be forwarded on to higher-ups in the department.
“Plaintiffs assert that the purpose for this list is to identify agents to be terminated or to suffer other adverse employment action,” the complaint says. “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.”
Alongside the suit, attorneys for the agents filed a copy of the survey they claim they were sent over the weekend. They survey asks for a series of information about agents’ role in the investigations, including their title at the time and what division they are currently assigned to. It also included a checklist they were asked to mark to indicate any actions they took in connection to the investigations, including making arrests, interviewing witnesses, executive search warrants and testifying at trial.
The class action suit, filed on behalf of the agents by attorneys for the Center for Employment Justice, seeks an immediate injunction barring the Trump administration from publicly releasing information that would identify FBI agents and tie them to the Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago cases.
This is a developing story and will be updated.