Two lawsuits, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington on behalf of anonymous agents, demand an immediate halt to the collection and potential dissemination of names of investigators who participated in probes of the Jan. The suits mark an escalation in a high-stake dispute that burst into public view on Friday with revelations that the Justice Department had demanded from the FBI the names, offices and titles of all employees involved in Jan. Thousands of FBI employees were also asked over the weekend to fill out an in-depth questionnaire about their participation in those probes, a step they worry could lead to termination.
But Trump, dating back to his first term as president, has long been furious at the FBI and Justice Department and sought to bend federal law enforcement to his will. He was investigated as president by agents examining potential ties between his campaign and Russia , and then after the leaving the White House, faced new criminal inquiries into his efforts to overturn the election and his retention of top-secret documents. His efforts to overturn election results and his retention of those documents both resulted in indictments that were dismissed after he won the presidency in November.
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. Another group of agents argued in a second lawsuit Tuesday that releasing their names publicly would subject them to dangerous threats and harassment.
The complaint includes a screenshot of a social media post from the former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio calling for the arrest of an agent who testified in his Jan.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. February 05, By The Associated Press. Donald Trump Government.
