Fired FBI Agents Sue Pam Bondi, Kash Patel Over Political Firings

The lawsuit, submitted in U.S. District Court in Washington, includes Jamie Garman, Blaire Toleman, and Michelle Ball as plaintiffs.

The agents claim they were fired for their work on the case and denied due process. The complaint states that the three agents were experienced investigators of public corruption and were assigned to special counsel Jack Smith’s team, but were terminated after years of service. The lawsuit seeks class-action status for other former agents who claim to have been removed under similar conditions.

The lawsuit indicates that the defendants, current FBI Director Kashyap P. Patel, and Attorney General Pamela J. Bondi, launched a public campaign to remove the plaintiffs from federal service since early 2025. The case argues that the firings were done without cause and without giving the agents a fair opportunity to respond.

The investigation at the heart of the dispute resulted in Smith’s 2023 indictment of Trump for alleged efforts to reverse his 2020 loss to Joe Biden. Smith eventually dropped that case, along with the prosecution related to classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, after Trump won the 2024 election.

These documents revealed that Smith’s team had subpoenaed phone records from some Republican lawmakers, a move that angered Trump supporters in Congress.

The suit accuses Patel and Bondi of coordinating the removals while publicly accusing agents and prosecutors involved in Smith’s work of misusing federal law enforcement. The plaintiffs assert that these claims were false and damaging to their reputations.

The three agents stated in a release to The Associated Press that being FBI agents “was the highest honor of our lives” and that they “followed the facts wherever they led and never compromised our integrity.” Their lawyer, Dan Eisenberg, said the case aims to protect “fundamental constitutional protections for FBI employees,” emphasizing that law enforcement officers should operate with loyalty to “facts and the truth.”

The lawsuit requests the court to reinstate them and recognize that their constitutional rights were violated. If class-action status is granted, other agents dismissed since January 20, 2025, could also seek reinstatement through this case.

CBS News reported that this new complaint suggests that at least 50 former agents have been fired in a similar way, and that number could increase.

The AP noted that other dismissed employees who have also filed lawsuits include agents depicted kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest, an agent trainee who displayed an LGBTQ+ flag at his workspace, and senior FBI officials who were removed last year.