DOJ says FBI agents on Jan. 6 cases won't be fired if they acted 'in an ethical manner'

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it would not target FBI employees who “simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner” as it reviews the role of all agents involved in investigating the more than 1,500 rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

An email to all agents at the FBI with the clarification comes as acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a former personal criminal defense lawyer for President Trump, has said he will remove those who “weaponized” the department and follows a large purge of FBI staff.

Last week, Bove demanded current FBI leadership send a list of all agents who worked on the Jan. 6 cases, pointing to a weaponization executive order Trump signed on his first day back in the White House. 

Bove received pushback from acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, who noted that the request for information on those who worked on the Jan. 6 cases would impact thousands of employees.

“Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties. The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI,” Bove wrote in the email reviewed by The Hill on Wednesday.

Bove complained his directive to FBI leadership was ignored, which spurred a survey sent to all FBI employees asking that they detail what actions they took in the Jan. 6 cases.

“In light of acting leadership’s refusal to comply with the narrower request, the written directive was intended to obtain a complete data set that the Justice Department can reliably pare down to the core team that will be the focus of the weaponization review pursuant to the Executive Order. The memo stated unambiguously, and I stand by these words, that the information requested was intended to ‘commence a review process’ that will be used to ‘determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary,’” Bove wrote.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) shared a Jan. 31 memo from Bove that directed the firing of the top five career leadership positions in the department as well as the heads of several field offices.

The memo directly ties that decision to the role the FBI played in Trump’s two criminal cases.

“The FBI – including the bureau’s prior leadership – actively participated in what President Trump appropriately described as ‘a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated on the American people over the last four years,” Bove wrote in that memo.

Bove then repeated a line used in other emails firing FBI and Justice Department staff saying he did not believe they could be trusted to “faithfully” implement Trump’s agenda.

The survey asked agents to define their roles in the Jan. 6 cases, asking whether they conducted surveillance, collected evidence, arrested individuals or testified in court. 

The FBI and Justice Department have been sued to block the dissemination of survey results, with suits citing concerns agents could face “vigilante justice.”

“The purpose for this list is to identify agents to be terminated or to suffer other adverse employment action,” one suit filed on behalf of nine agents says, calling it an “unlawful and retaliatory” action.

“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.”