Trump administration officials have forced the six highest FBI executives and multiple heads of several FBI field offices throughout the country, FBI officials told NBC News to NBC. They included the high profile leader of the Washington Field Office, DC, who participated in the prosecutions of President Donald Trump.
It was not clear immediately why officials had been expelled. The FBI declined to comment.
Asked by a journalist about the removals on Friday afternoon, President Trump said he was not aware of them.
“No, but we have some very bad people there, it was armed at a level that nobody has seen before,” Trump said. “They came after many people like me, but they came after many people. No, I was not involved in that. I will have to do what is happening exactly after this is over.”
However, Trump added that he felt that some FBI officials should eliminate.
“If they shot some people there, that’s good, because they were very bad. They were very corrupt, very corrupt, and hurt our country with arms,” he said. “They used, they used the Department of Justice to persecute their political opponent, which in itself is illegal, and obviously did not work.”
The movements occurred hours after Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, testified at his Senate Confirmation Hearing that “was not aware” of any plan for a large -scale reprisal against officials or FBI agents involved in President Trump’s criminal investigation.
David Sundberg, the deputy director in charge of the FBI field office in Washington, was notified on Thursday that he was going to lose his job and is preparing to leave the office, according to two sources of application of the law.
The special agents of the Washington Field Office were very involved in the investigations of former special lawyer Jack Smith about the now president Donald Trump, as well as in the extensive research on the riots of January 6, 2021 in the Capitol of the States United that gave rise to criminal charges against hundreds of hundreds.
The six senior executives forced out, the sources said, included Robert Wells, who saw the national security branch; Ryan Young, intelligence branch; Robert Nordwall, criminal and cybernetic response; Arlene Gaylord, Information Technology; Jackie Maguire, Science and Technology; and J William Rivers, Human Resources. All spend decades working in the ranges of the office.
All but Gaylord are eligible for retirement with a full pension and many decided to retire, the current and previous officials said. They did it despite the fact that legal experts say they could have fought against their endings under the regulations of the civil service that govern those appointed non -political.
Jeffrey Vertri, the special agent in Miami, was also expelled, said current and previous officials.
Spencer Evans, a special agent in charge of the FBI field of Las Vegas, told employees that FBI headquarters had eliminated him at the FBI headquarters in Washington, in a note obtained by NBC News.
“FBIHQ informed me today that the executive leadership of the Department of Justice plans to say goodbye to the FBI lists, along with several other FBI executives, as soon as Monday morning,” Evans wrote. “They did not give me any justification for this decision, which, as you can imagine, has been a shock.”
Before being sent to Las Vegas, Evans worked closely at the headquarters with Christopher Wray, FBI Trump director hired in 2017 and expelled this month.
We rise past
The new FBI directors have imposed important changes in the past. The career agent Louis Freeh, who was appointed director of the FBI by President Clinton in 1993, ordered hundreds of supervisors in Washington to the field.
But that was after Freeh had been confirmed by the Senate to meet a period of 10 years as director of the FBI. Although Patel has not been confirmed and is not working in the office, those who run the agency in a capacity for action have relations with him, say people familiar with the matter, including interim director Brian Driscoll.
The Trump team has also installed an advisory committee of the director who includes a former Republican Assistant of the Chamber and a recent ELON Musk Spacex employee. It is not clear what role, if anyone played these people in the shots.
“The people are shocked,” said a senior FBI official to NBC News. “You’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“This is not done,” said another FBI official. “These are the best people.”
The FBI has personnel and led by non -partisan career public servants, being the only designated politician as the director. In the past, the FBI directors have tried to put distance between them and the presidents who appointed them, and have even investigated those presidents sometimes, as Freeh did with Clinton.
Some agents expect the new administration to be positive changes. It is said that the new advisors who have been brought focus on technology, leadership and training, responsibility and organizational structure of the office. Patel has said that he wants fewer agents at the headquarters and more in the field, a freeh echo
Former interested agents
Former FBI officials said Trump is marking the beginning of a new era, one that experts say that the office could fundamentally change, and that it can raise significant risks. They say the moving could weaken the office.
“The forced departure of some of the most experienced and proven leaders of the FBI puts our national security in the danger zone,” said Frank Figliuzzi, former chief of counterintelligence of the FBI and NBC news collaborator.
The term of 10 years was created as a control over the power of the director of the FBI and an attempt to ensure the independence of the director of the White House. J Edgar Hoover directed the office for almost four decades, using the FBI intelligence collection skill to blackmail and intimidate politicians.
Today’s FBI is even more powerful than the office of the 1970s. It has a vast electronic surveillance capacity, a fleet of airplanes, sophisticated technical capabilities and one of the best trained paramilitary squadrons. In addition to criminal investigations, FBI agents carry out some of the most sensitive investigations in the United States government, including spy and terrorist hunting.
“This is having a great chilling effect,” said another FBI official. “What I imagine is the desired impact. Those who can retire are considering it strongly. Programs, Finance, Intel, etc. managers. This is the basis of institutional knowledge. “
The official added: “The general feeling is that they would prefer to retire than stay in this environment, but are divided between mission and retirement.”
During his confirmation hearing, Patel promised to look forward, not back.
“There will be no weapons in the FBI,” he testified. “There will be no remuneration actions taken by any FBI if they will confirm me as director of the FBI.”
