DOJ Won’t Release Names of FBI Agents Under Review for Involvement in Jan 6 Riot Cases

According to a court filing Friday, the Justice Department has agreed to not publicly identify any FBI agents who are currently under review by the Trump administration for their conduct or involvement in the January 6 Capitol riots.

The Associated Press reports attorneys for FBI employees filed two lawsuits Tuesday to halt the collection and potential dissemination of agents’ names. Many within the FBI feared the Justice Department would use a list of names to conduct mass firings.

In Friday’s court filing, the Justice Department said the government will not release the list of agents to the public, either “directly or indirectly,” before the judge rules on the merits of the lawsuits.

“The risk to these agents is horrendous,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Norman Eisen. However, government attorneys argued that the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order “is based entirely on speculation.”

“Plaintiffs can point to nothing that suggests the Government intends to make public the list in this case,” they wrote. “To the contrary, the Department and FBI management have repeatedly stressed the purpose of the list is to conduct an internal review, not expose dedicated special agents to public insult or ridicule.”

In a memo Wednesday, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said agents “who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner” while investigating the Capitol attack face no risk of being fired. But the memo also provided no reassurances for any agents found to have “acted with corrupt or partisan intent.”

According to the AP, “Thousands of FBI employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases were asked to complete in-depth questionnaires. In response to the request, the FBI provided Justice Department officials with personnel details about several thousand employees.”

The AP also reports that the bureau initially identified agents by employee number rather than by name. But Friday’s court filing says the FBI subsequently turned over a record that pairs the numbers with corresponding names…

Attorneys for the Justice Department and FBI agents spent several hours inside and outside Cobb’s courtroom on Thursday, but they were unable to reach an agreement before the end of the day…

The Justice Department set a deadline Tuesday for the FBI to provide a list of all current and former FBI agents who worked on Jan. 6 criminal investigations so officials could determine if they should be disciplined.”