Yesterday,
three
former
high-ranking
FBI
officials
sued
the
agency’s
director
Kash
Patel
for
wrongful
termination
and
retaliation.
Brian
Driscoll,
Jr.,
Steven
Jensen,
and
Spencer
Evans
allege
a
revenge
campaign
by
the
White
House
against
Trump’s
enemies
at
the
FBI
that
violated
due
process
and
the
First
Amendment
and
ultimately
led
to
their
dismissal.
Their
complaint
describes
shocking
corruption
of
what
is
supposed
to
be
an
apolitical
law
enforcement
agency.
It’s
also
freakin’
hilarious.
Kash
Patel,
serial
litigant
and
the
illustrious
recipient
of
an
“order
on
ineptitude”
from
a
federal
judge,
is
an
incompetent
hack?
Say
it
ain’t
so!
The
story
begins
the
week
before
Trump’s
second
inauguration.
Patel
called
Driscoll,
a
decorated
agent
known
to
his
pals
as
“Drizz,”
who
was
then
leading
the
FBI’s
Newark
Field
Office
and
asked
him
to
come
to
DC
to
work
at
FBI
headquarters.
The
job
would
require
“vetting”
by
the
White
House,
but
Patel
assured
Driscoll
that
he’d
be
fine
as
long
as
he
“was
not
prolific
on
social
media,
did
not
donate
to
the
Democratic
Party,
and
did
not
vote
for
Kamala
Harris
in
the
2024
election.”
He
was
not
fine.
On
January
17,
the
Trump
transition
team
dispatched
Paul
Ingrassia,
a
rightwing
blogger
who
represented
accused
sex
trafficker
Andrew
Tate
in
2023,
despite
not
being
admitted
to
the
bar
until
2024.
Ingrassia’s
nomination
as
Special
Counsel
stalled
in
July
after
his
long,
public
association
with
Nazis
was
brought
to
the
attention
of
the
Senate.
But
back
in
January
he
was
riding
high
as
White
House
liaison
to
the
DOJ,
demanding
to
know:
who
Driscoll
voted
for;
if
he
agreed
that
the
agents
who
“stormed”
Mar-a-Lago
to
retrieve
all
the
classified
docs
Trump
was
storing
in
the
toilet
should
be
fired;
his
thoughts
on
DEI;
when
he
started
supporting
Trump;
and
whether
he’d
voted
for
a
Democrat
in
the
last
five
elections.
Later
that
night,
Trump’s
personal
lawyer
Emil
Bove
called
to
say
that
Driscoll
got
a
thumbs
down
because
Ingrassia
said
he
was
not
“based
out”
enough.
(OMG,
these
dorks!)
Not
to
worry,
though,
because
Bove
overrode
Ingrassia
and
told
Team
Trump
that
Driscoll
was
BASED
AS
HELL,
BRO.
Bove
persuaded
Driscoll
to
come
to
DC
and
serve
as
interim
deputy
director,
with
his
longtime
colleague
Robert
Kissane
as
the
acting
agency
head.
But
when
they
showed
up,
the
paperwork
said
that
Kissane
was
in
the
number
two
spot.
According
to
the
complaint,
“Bove
told
Kissane
that
it
was
a
clerical
error
but
that
the
White
House
was
unwilling
to
fix
it.”
And
that’s
how
Driscoll
became
acting
director
of
the
FBI!
Driscoll
and
Kissane
spent
the
next
three
weeks
fending
off
Bove,
who
was
by
then
Deputy
Assistant
AG.
Bove
was
under
pressure
from
the
White
House
to
fire
anyone
involved
in
the
January
6
cases,
and
he
demanded
a
list
of
everyone
at
the
FBI
who
was
involved
in
the
investigations.
Driscoll
countered
that
this
would
include
thousands
of
agents,
including
himself.
He
also
pointed
out
that
they
enjoyed
civil
service
protections
that
meant
they
couldn’t
be
summarily
dismissed.
But
Bove
insisted
that
he
had
the
unilateral
power
to
remove
anyone
if
he
felt
a
“loss
of
confidence
in
their
ability
to
carry
out
the
President’s
agenda,”
and
so
he
fired
dozens
of
experienced
agents.
Unsurprisingly,
this
purge
failed
to
endear
him
to
the
rank
and
file,
prompting
a
massive
tantrum
from
the
future
federal
judge:
Bove’s
efforts
did,
however,
create
a
groundswell
of
support
within
the
FBI
for
Driscoll’s
and
Kissane’s
leadership.
Rank-and-file
agents
appeared
to
appreciate
that
the
two
men
were
the
reasons
the
country
had
not
been
catapulted
into
a
national
security
emergency
brought
on
by
suspected
mass
firings
at
the
FBI.
Bove
told
Driscoll
that
he
was
angry
that,
in
parody
videos
apparently
created
by
FBI
employees,
Bove
was
portrayed
as
the
Batman
villain
“Bane,”
while
Driscoll
was
portrayed
as
“Batman.”
Driscoll
responded
that
he
did
not
make
the
video,
nor
could
he
control
unknown
individuals’
feelings
or
expressions
of
said
feelings.Bove
responded
that
Driscoll
could
have
told
the
FBI’s
workforce
that
Driscoll
trusted
him.
Bove
then
stated
that
he
and
now-confirmed
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi
were
going
to
have
an
in-person
meeting
with
Patel
later
that
afternoon
to
discuss
“what
they
were
going
to
do
with
Kissane
and
Driscoll.”
Things
did
not
get
better
when
Patel
and
deputy
director
Dan
Bongino
showed
up.
Both
men
left
government
service
to
become
MAGA
influencers,
with
Patel
hawking
everything
from
drug
supplements
to
his
own
brand
of
wine.
In
office,
he
focused
on
swag,
including
a
“challenge
coin”
branded
with
his
signature
“Ka$h”
logo.
For
his
part,
Bongino
continued
his
fixation
with
the
conspiracy
theories
that
filled
his
podcast.
Plaintiff
Steven
Jensen,
whom
they
recruited
from
South
Carolina
to
be
Assistant
Director
in
Charge
of
the
Washington
Field
Office,
“regularly
updated
Bongino
on
investigations
that
Bongino
considered
priorities,
including
into
the
January
6
pipe
bomber,
the
leak
of
the
Supreme
Court’s
decision
in
Dobbs
v.
Jackson
Women’s
Health
Organization,
and
the
discovery
of
cocaine
at
the
White
House
during
the
Biden
Administration,
which
were
three
cases
that
Bongino
frequently
discussed
in
media
interviews
and
on
his
social
media
feed.”
Patel
and
Bongino
were
obsessed
with
social
media,
urging
their
subordinates
to
post
constantly,
to
the
extent
that
Jensen
worried
“it
could
risk
outweighing
more
deliberate
analyses
of
investigations.”
And
in
the
end,
it
was
rightwing
social
media
posters
who
got
Jensen
and
Evans
fired.
Jensen
was
axed
for
his
participation
in
the
January
6
investigations,
and
Evans
was
forced
out
because
of
MAGA
outrage
over
his
enforcement
of
COVID
protocols
in
2021.
Before
firing
Jensen,
Patel
suggested
that
he
sue
some
of
his
online
critics:
“Doing
so,
Patel
explained,
would
help
take
the
political
pressure
off
of
him
for
his
decision
to
promote
Jensen.”
This
is
extremely
on
brand
for
Patel,
who
filed
many,
many
trollsuits,
including
against
the
New
York
Times,
CNN,
Politico,
the
Department
of
Homeland
Security,
the
Defense
Department
and
former
FBI
Director
Chris
Wray.
None
of
these
came
to
anything,
although
Patel
did
manage
to
get
a
default
judgment
against
a
podcaster
who
failed
to
show
up
in
court.
Patel
is
currently
suing
MSNBC
commentator
Frank
Figliuzzi
for
suggesting
that
he
spends
more
time
partying
than
working.
And
Patel’s
girlfriend,
Alexis
Wilkins,
is
suing
Kyle
Seraphin,
a
rightwing
podcaster
and
self-styled
FBI
whistleblower,
who
called
her
“a
former
Mossad
agent”
and
expressed
doubt
that
she
is
genuinely
into
“a
cross-eyed,
you
know,
kind
of
thickish
built,
super
cool
bro
who’s
almost
50
years
old
who’s
Indian
in
America.”
It’s
probably
not
a
coincidence
that
the
Driscoll
complaint
cites
a
tweet
by
Seraphin
with
screenshotted
texts
from
Patel
promising
to
fire
Evans.
Jensen
rebuffed
his
boss’s
suggestions
to
sue.
But
it
appears
to
have
occurred
to
Patel
that
he
was
likely
to
wind
up
on
the
pointy
end
of
at
least
one
lawsuit.
Driscoll
says
that
he
told
Patel
multiple
times
that
illegally
terminating
various
FBI
employees
without
regard
for
process
would
result
in
litigation
against
the
FBI.
Over
and
over
again
the
complaint
alleges
that
“Patel
said
that
he
understood
that
and
he
knew
the
nature
of
the
summary
firings
were
likely
illegal
and
that
he
could
be
sued
and
later
deposed.”
And
now
he
might!
Each
of
the
plaintiffs
received
a
one-page
letter
purporting
to
terminate
them
for
cause.
But
according
to
the
complaint,
Patel
and
Bongino
couldn’t
even
manage
to
do
that
correctly:
As
of
the
date
of
this
filing,
Driscoll
has
not
been
provided
with
an
SF-50.
The
SF50
is
a
government
form
titled
“Notification
of
Personnel
Action”
which
is
provided
to
former
employees
upon
termination.
The
“Nature
of
Action”
on
an
SF-50
would
typically
signify
the
removal
of
an
employee
and
is
completed
by
the
employer.
That
section
has
a
corresponding
section,
“Legal
Authority”
which
is
also
intended
to
be
completed
by
the
employer.
As
of
the
date
of
this
filing,
individuals
within
FBI’s
HRD
are
reportedly
unsure
what
to
enter
under
“Legal
Authority”
and
have
thus
not
yet
completed
the
form
or
issued
it
to
Driscoll.
Driscoll,
Jensen,
and
Evans
sued
Patel,
AG
Bondi,
and
the
FBI
alleging
that
they
were
retaliated
against
for
their
perceived
political
affiliation
in
violation
of
the
First
Amendment
and
that
their
terminations
without
due
process
violated
the
Fifth
Amendment.
They
demand
reinstatement
with
backpay,
plus
a
declaratory
judgment
that
their
termination
was
illegal.
A
phalanx
of
heavy
hitters
signed
the
complaint,
including:
Chris
Mattei,
who
represented
the
Sandy
Hook
parents
against
Alex
Jones;
Mark
Zaid
and
Brad
Moss,
who’ve
represented
everyone
from
Alexander
Vindman
to
Mickey
Dolenz;
and
the
ubiquitous
Abbe
Lowell.
Meanwhile,
Patel
announced
that
the
FBI
arrested
the
shooter
in
the
Charlie
Kirk
case,
only
to
have
to
walk
it
back.
Good
thing
they
got
rid
of
Driscoll,
Jensen,
Evans,
with
their
collective
70
years
of
experience,
along
with
superstar
agent
Mehtab
Syed,
the
now-former
head
of
the
FBI’s
Salt
Lake
City
Field
Office.
MAGA!