FBI staff ordered to reveal their role in 2021 Capitol attack probes by Feb 3

WASHINGTON - Federal Bureau of Investigation employees were ordered on Feb 2 to answer a detailed list of questions about any work they may have done on criminal cases related to the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, stoking fear among staff about a fresh round of firings at the law enforcement agency.

The list of questions in the memo, seen by Reuters, direct employees to give their job title, any role they played in the investigations into the

Jan 6 riot by supporters of President Donald Trump

and whether they helped supervise such investigations.

“I know myself and others receiving this questionnaire have a lot of questions and concerns, which I am working hard to get answers to,” Mr Chad Yarbrough, the assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI headquarters, wrote in a weekend e-mail seen by Reuters.

Mr Yarbrough told employees the answers are due by 3pm eastern time on Feb 3 (4am on Feb 4, Singapore time).

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the questionnaire.

Democrats and other critics have said Mr Trump’s team is carrying out a purge of FBI and Justice Department officials who played roles in the criminal cases against Mr Trump and the Jan 6 rioters.

On Mr Trump’s first day back in office on Jan 20,

he commuted the sentences of 14 people in connection with the Capitol attack

, and pardoned the rest – including those who violently attacked law enforcement officers.

Acting Deputy Attorney-General Emil Bove on Jan 31 demanded that the FBI by Feb 4 at noon eastern time (1am on Feb 5, Singapore time) turn over to him a list of every employee who worked on Jan 6 cases, as well as a list of those who worked on a criminal case filed in 2024 against leaders of the militant Hamas group in connection with the Gaza war.

He also fired eight senior FBI officials from agency headquarters as well as the heads of the Miami and Washington, DC field offices.

Mr Bove last week fired more than a dozen career Justice Department prosecutors who worked on the two now-dismissed criminal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith against Mr Trump.

One involved actions taken to try to overturn the 2020 election results, and the other involved classified government documents.

Mr Mark Zaid, a lawyer who specialises in national security, said in a letter to Mr Bove that his actions appeared to be in violation of due process and if an individual’s information was made public, it could threaten their safety.

“If you proceed with terminations and/or public exposure of terminated employees’ identities, we stand ready to vindicate their rights through all available legal means,” the letter, which Mr Zaid released on X, said.

Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, in an e-mail to staff on Jan 31 announcing details about the order from Mr Bove, said the request “encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts”.

“I am one of those employees, as is acting Deputy Director (Robert) Kissane,” Mr Driscoll noted.

Despite reports about other firings throughout the bureau, e-mail seen by Reuters from both the FBI Agents Association and from Mr James Dennehy, the assistant FBI director in charge of the New York office, made it clear that no one else had been asked to resign.

Nevertheless, some employees on Jan 31 started to clear out their desks amid concerns they might be next, according to the FBI Agents Association e-mail seen by Reuters.

“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy,” Mr Dennehy wrote on Jan 31.

He also said he gave credit to Mr Driscoll and Mr Kissane for “fighting for this organisation”.

He added that other than the select group of people named in Mr Bove’s memo, “NO ONE has been told they are being removed at this time”. REUTERS