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The FBI has continued its personnel purge, forcing out additional agents and supervisors tied to the federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 US presidential election. The latest firings took place despite efforts by Washington's top federal prosecutor to try to stop at least some of the terminations, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The employees were told this week that they were being fired but those plans were paused after DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro raised concerns, according to two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss personnel matters. The agents were then fired again on Tuesday, though it's not clear what prompted the about-face. The total number of fired agents was not immediately clear. The terminations are part of a broader personnel upheaval under the leadership of FBI Director Kash Patel, who has pushed out numerous senior officials and agents involved in ...
Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey urged a judge Monday to dismiss the case against him, calling it a vindictive prosecution motivated by personal animus and orchestrated by a White House determined to seek retribution against a perceived foe of President Donald Trump. The lawyers separately called for the indictment's dismissal because of what they said was the illegitimate appointment of the US attorney who filed the case days after being hastily named to the job by Trump. The two-prong attack on the indictment, which accuses Comey of lying to Congress five years ago, represents the opening salvo in what is expected to be a protracted court fight ahead of a trial currently set for January 5. The motions take aim not at the substance of the allegations but rather on the unusual circumstances of the prosecution, which included Trump exhorting his attorney general to bring charges against Comey as well as his administration's abrupt installation of a White House aide to serve
On a visit to New Zealand, FBI Director Kash Patel gave the country's police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed, New Zealand law enforcement agencies told The Associated Press. The plastic 3D-printed replica pistols formed part of the display stands Patel presented to at least three senior New Zealand security officials in July. Patel, the most senior Trump administration official to visit the country so far, was in Wellington to open the FBI's first standalone office in New Zealand. Pistols are tightly restricted weapons under New Zealand law, and possessing one requires an additional permit beyond a regular gun license. Law enforcement agencies didn't specify whether the officials who met with Patel held such permits, but they couldn't have legally kept the gifts if they didn't. It wasn't clear what permissions Patel had sought to bring the weapons into the country. A spokesperson for Patel told the
The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, three people familiar with the matter have said. The bureau had reassigned the agents last spring but has since fired them, said the people, who insisted on anonymity to discuss personnel matters with The Associated Press. The number of FBI employees fired was not immediately clear, but two people said it was roughly 20. An FBI spokesman declined to comment Friday.
James Comey has been charged with lying to Congress in a criminal case filed days after President Donald Trump appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute the former FBI director and other perceived political enemies. Thursday's indictment makes Comey the first former senior government official involved in one of Trump's chief grievances, the long-concluded investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, to face prosecution. Trump has for years derided that investigation as a "hoax" and a "witch hunt" despite multiple government reviews showing Moscow interfered on behalf of the Republican's campaign, and has made clear his desire for retribution. Minutes after the former FBI director was indicted, his son-in-law Troy Edwards resigned as a federal prosecutor. Edwards quit his job "to uphold my oath to the Constitution and the country", he wrote in a one-sentence resignation letter addressed to Lindsey Halligan, the newly appointed acting US Attorney in Virginia'
FBI Director Kash Patel defended the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files Wednesday as he returned to Capitol Hill for a second day to face intense questioning from Democrats over his promises of transparency surrounding the wealthy financier's criminal case. The political blowback over the Trump administration's decision in July not to publicly release more investigative files from Epstein's case was at the center of Patel's five-hour appearance before the House Judiciary Committee. It followed an at-times raucous hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday during which Democrats focused their attention on their criticism that Patel has politicized the bureau and turned it into a weapon against Trump's perceived enemies. Here's a look at some key takeaways from Wednesday's hearing: Some of the most explosive exchanges centered around the Justice Department's handling of files related to the Epstein sex trafficking investigation as well as the F
A driver rammed a car into a security gate at the FBI building in Pittsburgh early Wednesday, then removed an American flag from the back seat and threw it over the gate before leaving, authorities said. The car crashed into the gate at about 2:40 am, the FBI said, and authorities were searching for the man. Investigators, including a bomb squad, were at the scene. This incident is considered a targeted attack against the FBI, the agency said in a statement that was posted online. No FBI personnel were injured. Christopher Giordano, assistant special agent in charge at the FBI in Pittsburgh, told reporters that the car appeared to have some sort of message on one of the side windows. Giordano said the FBI was familiar with the man. He did come here to the FBI field office a few weeks ago to make a complaint that didn't make a whole lot of sense, Giordano said.
Kash Patel will confront sceptical Senate Democrats at a congressional hearing Tuesday likely to be dominated by questions about the investigation into Charlie Kirk's killing as well as the recent firings of senior officials who have accused the FBI director of illegal political retribution. The appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee represents the first oversight hearing of Patel's young but tumultuous tenure and provides a high-stakes platform for him to try to reassure wary lawmakers that he is the right person for the job at a time of internal upheaval and mounting concerns about political violence inside the US. Patel will be returning to the committee for the first time since his confirmation hearing in January, when he sought to reassure Democrats that he would not pursue retribution as director. He'll face questions Tuesday about whether he did exactly that when the FBI last month fired five agents and senior officials in a purge that current and former officials s